Parent Shows Concern to CSC Chairman

Dear Councillor Dair

Re: Madras College Split Site, HMIE Report, and your committee meeting of 11 January

I am shocked to read in the press and in paper 10 for your 11 January 2007 meeting of the Children's Services Committee that this Committee is being asked to approve what seems to amount to ignoring the HMIE report (2 May 2006) which was so critical of the accommodation issues at Madras College. I imagine that you need no reminding that the report stated "the education authority should take appropriate action to improve accommodation" and included the comment that the authority was "recommended [to] take immediate steps to remove barriers to learning, teaching and behaviour due to weaknesses in accommodation".

Your papers for the 11 January meeting state that "A report was approved by Children's Services Committee on 19th May 2005 outlining the future of the secondary estate. Within the report the proposal to relocate Madras College to a single campus at Kilrymont was approved with a proposed timescale of 2005-08." This was a relief to many families who had children at the School and those who were about to have children at the School.

The paper coming before your committee this week is therefore must be a major disappointment to many, including members of our family. I do hope that you and your fellow councillors will not approve this apparent ducking of the issues, but will instruct officials instead to look seriously at major new building options in the 2007-2008 timescale, and, if necessary, finding savings elsewhere in the Council's budget to allow this to happen.

The problems associated with the split site accommodation at Madras have been known now for many generations of school pupils. Public meetings with officials and councillors in recent times have been full of concern from the local community about the split-site nature of the School and what is perceived as the run-down state of the accommodation. This is not a "new" problem, and the Council really should be addressing this positively and vigorously in a timely manner.

But now your Committee is being asked to approve a report which gives the strong impression that despite the recommendations of HMIE no major building work will commence until well after the end of the decade. Surely the children of this part of Fife deserve better than that?

Bruce