News / Pause for thought
COMMUNITY group CURE has welcomed Tuesday’s decision by Shetland Islands Council to postpone any further consultation on changing secondary education in the isles for at least two years.
Chairman of Communities United for Rural Education, retired teacher Gordon Thomson praised councillors for choosing the “sensible option”.
On Tuesday, the council’s education and families committee agreed only to revisit the consultations after the new Anderson High School was built and the Shetland learning partnership to integrate secondary and tertiary education has been completed.
Thomson said the deferral provided a welcome “pause for thought”.
“I think it is good to see that the council has been listening to the views of parents, pupils and people in the communities,” he said.
Thomson praised the work of the various parent councils who have been instrumental in bringing about a change of heart.
He also commended the “hard work” of the Northmavine community whose campaign to safeguard its three primary schools had been successful
“After Northmavine I think there was a realisation by councillors that things were not be working out in the way they had planned, and that they could not really justify closing schools.
“I think it is a good time to take stock and looking at other ways of making savings,” he said.
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