A BORDERS village school with only one pupil is set to be closed.
Fountainhall Primary School is a non-denominational school, with capacity for 50 pupils, located in the very small village of Fountainhall in the north-west of the Borders on the Gala Water.
A report to be presented to Scottish Borders Council next week recommends that the school is mothballed for one year.
The move comes after the number of pupils attending fell from 24 in 2020/21 to just a single pupil enrolled for the new school term starting in August.
A report to the committee states: “The decision has been made to recommend that the primary school is mothballed in the exceptional circumstances of a roll falling to one.
“Mothballing is being recommended for up to one year. Officers have made the decision to recommend temporarily mothballing the school from the end of this academic year, based on balancing the very significant educational drawbacks of a roll with such low numbers and the operational challenges officers face in running a school for one pupil.
“Officers are committed to supporting the parent cohort of the school as best as possibly can be done in the circumstances when this recommendation to mothball is being made.”
If the recommendation is rubber-stamped it is proposed that the catchment area for the school is temporarily rezoned to Heriot Primary School.
The report adds: “There are strong educational benefits for this proposal as the schools currently share a head teacher and the schools are partnered along with close links to Stow and Clovenfords School.
“The pupil/s at the school will have already developed friendship/peer groups and strong ties to staff and Heriot through their partnership and shared HT.
“Officers imagine that any Fountainhall catchment families or families who may move to the area within the mothball period, may have a strong preference for Heriot as they may find that the school shares a family school ethos to ensure the experience of a much smaller, rural school.”
