Mum demands Highland Council clarity on ending “absolute disgrace” of Dingwall’s dilapidated disabled school St Clement’s
A mother who has battled for nine years to secure a new school for children with disabilities is pressuring Ross-shire councillors to demand a clear timetable for ending the “absolute disgrace” of dilapidated facilities.
The current St Clement’s school in Dingwall has long been described as ‘Dickensian’ and shamefully unfit for purpose.
With Highland Council announcing that new buildings for St Clement’s and Dingwall Primary would be built as part of a massive £2 billion schools and roads investment programme, campaigner Avril Robertson has written to local members imploring them to act to secure a “firm plan and timescale” for renewal.
Her son Rory attends St. Clement’s, an additional support needs school that currently caters for 51 children from the ages of three to 18 with physical disabilities and neurological conditions.
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Parts of the present school building, which serves children from throughout Easter Ross and as far afield as Inverness, are more than 100 years old.
In her letter to councillors, Ms Robertson, the chairwoman of St Clement’s Parent Council, says: “I politely request that you represent us at the next council meeting by asking a question in the chamber.
“The question I want you to ask is ‘when will St. Clement’s new build, stand-alone school open its doors to pupils?’
“As I’m sure you are aware we have been campaigning for nine years to secure a new school for St. Clement’s.
“While we welcome recent developments, we still have no firm plan or timescale.
“So, in the meantime, our kids continue to be schooled in an environment that lacks the most basic of facilities and resources.
“They have no gym hall, no playfield, no subject teachers or departments for the senior pupils.
“(They have) no break out rooms in the old building, corridors that are very narrow making it extremely difficult to manoeuvre wheelchairs in, high ceilings, dreadful acoustics, an outdated heating system, no life skills area and a public car park on their doorstep.
“All of this is wholly unacceptable and an absolute disgrace. I implore you to speak up and be the voice for these children.”
Highland Council approved plans for a new £13m school in 2021, but was unsuccessful in securing Scottish government funding to progress the project.
The Scottish government said the local authority had benefited from previous rounds of funding.
At the end of April, Highland Council announced ambitious plans to invest more than £2 billion in the region’s roads, schools and other infrastructure over the next 20 years.
It declared that plans to replace the worst school buildings were a key part of the plan.
The two Dingwall schools were highlighted in the Highland Investment Programme as examples of where investment could “make the council’s money work harder”.
Tomorrow’s (Thursday’s) meeting of the full council will be asked to back the plan, with Ms Robertson hoping her letter will focus minds on securing progress swiftly within a clearly set out timescale.
Dingwall and Seaforth Council Graham Mackenzie said last week: “What is not to like about this?
“We were battling to try and get St Clement’s and were told we wouldn’t get one in the next five years.
“And now we are told we are getting not one new school but two.
“It is coming to council and I am sure it will be agreed because I believe this programme will make people’s lives a lot happier, not least dealing with the council depot in Dingwall and huge investment in roads as a result.”
