A tense meeting has been held in a bid to deal with a row at Sgoil Lionacleit, the only secondary school in Uist and Benbecula.
Western Isles Council and school management have been accused of failing to resolve problems which resulted in the entire sixth year threatening a walkout.
It is unheard of for a mass group of pupils to take such action in the Western Isles, if not Scotland.
Pupils, parents, councillors and teachers gathered at a school council meeting over the concerns on Monday night.
The headmaster slammed parents and pupils for raising the problems in public domain, suggesting they should have come to staff first.
However, one pupil firmly pointed out that they had expressed their concerns but were ignored.
This was what caused a confrontation with school management, leading to around 35 students requesting leavers’ forms to quit the school.
Pupils who have just started sixth year say the school is failing to give them the education required.
Central to the grievances is the axing or withdrawal of a number of subjects.
Physics, history, Spanish and graphic design are understood to be included in the list of subjects pupils say they are unable to take.
They maintain they are being pressurised to do courses they don’t want or to leave the school.
Some feel the very restricted options for courses offered at Sgoil Lionacleit may reduce their chances of getting to college or university.
According to pupils, the new choice form is aimed at 5th year students. If a 6th
year pupil has already done Maths or English then they have a very limited choice
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Ironically, one subject appears to have been shelved as the teacher is going on a course.
Parent Don Macphee said the outcome of the meeting left parents feeling “wildly patronised. Nothing was actually resolved.”
He said if school management had shown some contrition that the “whole affair had been handled badly there would have been an opportunity to bring the parents back on board. However, what we had was an attempt to justify the inadequate, the inappropriate, and the unacceptable.”
Mr Macphee said he was “raging” when the meeting was told the school doesn’t have enough Maths teachers. The single one left will not be teaching Higher maths.
He pointed out that pupils are not guaranteed they can take a language course like French, Spanish, or German up to Higher level.
Student spokesman Iain Macphee said: “We want to be in school but we want to treated as if the school wants us here. Before the threat to walk out nobody felt they were wanted at the school."
He added: “There’s a lack of choice of subjects. The advice from school management is to take subjects we don’t want.”
Despite the wide unhappiness and mass protest, the Comhairle still insists that only one parent directly raised concerns with the school. It is known the number is higher.
In addition, many pupils aired issues directly with their guidance teacher and with the school management.
Though the council pledged to listen to the concerns, it apparently failed to consult with pupils themselves.
Instead, a council’s investigation into the situation has obtained a report from some of the very people claimed to be at the core of the problem.
The council maintains only half a dozen pupils threatened to walk out -
A council spokesman said: “The change of course choices this year reflect pupil demand, capacity of teaching staff and timetable limits.
“However, it must be remembered that the pupil choices form for 15/16 provides greater choices than in the previous three years.
“It should also be noted that Lionacleit course choices are consistent with that of schools of similar size in Scotland.
Sgoil Lìonacleit protest row still unresolved
9 June 2015