Open Day Friday 15th March 2-3pm

Palnackie Primary welcomes all current and prospective parents and children to an Open Day on the 15th March 2 - 3pm

Palnackie Primary School

On open letter to our councillors

We write on behalf of the Parent Council of Palnackie Primary School to express our deep disappointment and concern regarding the process and communication surrounding the motions to close our community school. While we acknowledge the complex factors that have led to this outcome we feel compelled to raise a number of serious concerns about how this process has been managed.1. Inconsistent and Poor Communication
Communication from the Council to the Parent Council has been irregular, inconsistent, and at times, contradictory. We have received conflicting messages about key decisions, which has made it extremely difficult for us to provide accurate information to families or engage meaningfully in discussions about the school’s future with the community.- For example, some parents did not consistently receive emails from the council regarding a vote on the schools future.
- Our teachers who should be involved in these processes refuse to talk about the closure, as it’s “not for them to say”, yet we don’t have anyone else to talk to.2. Lack of Transparency and Engagement
There has been a distinct lack of transparency between the Council, school staff, and the Parent Council. This has left us feeling sidelined during a time when collaborative working should have been a priority. For example:- When forced under extremely tight deadlines to make a decision on the schools future, we received no timely response from the outcome of the decision from the council's side.
- When we did finally receive a response, the external response was contradictory to the proposal that would be reaching the committee members today.3. Insufficient Recognition of the Community Impact
The closure places a significant burden on the Palnackie community, which must now take on greater responsibility for creating and sustaining programmes for young people — without any clear support or resource plan from the Council. There has been little acknowledgement from the Education Committee of this added pressure or of the emotional and social impact this closure has on families, pupils, and the identity of our village. For example:When discussing how Palnackie might continue to thrive with the loss of the school we were told this was Palnackie’s problem and not the councils.In general, we must have deep care and attention in how we manage these inherently emotional decisions.We respectfully ask that the Education Committee consider Palnackie as a template for learning. We propose that a select number of community representatives work alongside Council members to review and improve the school closure process. This collaborative approach would help ensure that future decisions are more transparent, inclusive, empathetic and considerate of local impact.We would welcome the opportunity to meet with members of the Committee to discuss these matters further and to explore constructive ways forward.Yours sincerely,Amy Nash
Chair, Palnackie Primary School Parent CouncilMirjam Link, TreasurerNadia Anderson, Secretary

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