Bid to shut rural school 30/9/14
A fresh move to shut Lionel Secondary School has been launched by the Comhairle.
It is proposed that S1/S2 pupils be bussed to Stornoway and attend classes in the Nicolson Institute from next August..
The school is the last of the unique two-
The rest were abolished in a major cull of smaller schools by the council.
Educational grounds are cited for the drive to shut Lionel though cost cutting is also a factor.
Pupil numbers have declined since the school was saved in 2012 as many parents choose to bypass the local facility and send their children to Stornoway, 27 miles away.
Lionel has a capacity for 98 S1/S2 pupils but only eight pupils are enrolled while seven other children in the district attend high school in Stornoway.
Since August 2012, Lionel School has functioned as a satellite of the Nicolson Institute with one of the depute headteachers from Stornoway based in Ness one day each week, arranging the timetables and overseeing the work of pupils and staff. If this arrangement were to continue.
Continuing this arrangement would have a “significant impact on curriculum provision and the quality
of learning and teaching available in Lionel School secondary department in comparison to
the Nicolson Institute,” says the council.
Providing specialist teaching staff for a broad and balanced range of subjects “would be challenging,” says the consultation document.
Getting teachers to travel from the Nicolson Institute to Lionel to deliver lessons would “severely limit” the teaching time at both schools.
The council estimates that it would take up to 55 minutes to travel to the Nicolson Institute.
Education officials will be present at a formal public consultaion meeting in the school which starts at 7.30pm tonight (Tues).