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Permanent closure plan for one-pupil school approved

News imageBBC A small school in the Borders with a playground and play equipment outsideBBC
The council has agreed to start the process to permanently close the school

Proposals which pave the way for the permanent closure of a small rural primary school in the Borders have been approved.

Fountainhall Primary's roll had fallen from 24 in 2020 to just a single pupil enrolled last summer and its early years centre had closed two years earlier.

As with other designated rural schools, the local authority has to make every effort to keep the primary open.

However, a review found that parents of the dozen children who live in and around the village were happy for them to go to neighbouring Heriot Primary about five miles (8km) away, and there was little evidence of more families moving into the catchment.

News imageAnother angle of Fountainhall Primary - a small rural primary in the Borders
The school was shut on a temporary basis last summer

Scottish Borders Council education director Lesley Munro said: "Closure is always the last resort, but we have to respect the views of parents in the catchment."

The school was mothballed - shut on a temporary basis - last summer.

The consultation process will now begin on closing it on a permanent basis.

Council leader Euan Jardine said: "Rural depopulation is a real problem in places like the Borders and this school closure is a direct consequence."

Despite a local campaign to keep the doors of the single-teacher school open last summer it was shut on a temporary basis due to the decline in pupil numbers.

The site has a capacity for 50 and catered for 24 pupils in 2020 but that fell to just five by the end of the 2024-25 school year.

And just one was registered to return last year after the summer.

Alternative provision is available in the village of Heriot.

Last year residents there called for families to move to the area in order to help boost its school roll.

SBC has said it was keen to mitigate any impact of the Fountainhall closure on the area "as much as possible".

A full meeting of the local authority has approved the start of consultation on shutting the school for good.

Andy Anderson, who chairs the Stow and Fountainhall Community Council, said it was "disappointing" that their first sight of the plans was in the agenda item on the council website.