Schools consultation extended

Consultation on the proposed closure of North Roe Primary School and Urafirth Primary school and nursery class has been extended by a week.

The move by the Shetland Islands Council comes after a “minor problem” was identified with the electronic response form.

Proposals being considered by the SIC involve closing the schools and transferring pupils to Olaberry Primary School. There has been significant objection to the plans in the North Mainland with many arguing that young children face long and potentially unsafe bus journeys.

Statutory consultation started on Wednesday 16th April and was due to end today. The final date for submitting responses will now be Friday 6 June 2014.

The SIC said this was in response to a minor problem identified in one box on the electronic response form. Members of the Save Urafirth School (Again) Facebook page reported difficulties inputting data in one mandatroy field over the weekend

Executive manager for Quality Improvement, Audrey Edwards, said: “We have had one minor error pointed out to us in one of the drop-down boxes on the electronic response form.

“We are always sensitive to these issues, and so have decided to extend the statutory consultation period by one week, to ensure this has not caused any potential respondent a problem.

“As is already detailed on the form itself, we’d ask anyone who has any problems with the online process to please contact us directly as soon as possible on 01595 744745.”

There are other ways of responding to the proposal besides submitting an electronic response, and these are outlined in the Proposal Paper.

The electronic response form can be found at: http://www.shetland.gov.uk/education/NorthMavinePrimarySchools.asp