Education and Children’s Services
Dear Parent/Carer,
Statutory Consultation:
Proposal on Relocation of St Andrew’s School to Inverurie Community Campus
Aberdeenshire Council’s Education, Learning & Leisure Committee agreed on 8 December 2016 that a statutory consultation on the proposed relocation of St Andrew’s School within the new Inverurie Community Campus will begin this month.
The formal consultation will ask pupils, parents, staff and other community representatives for their views on the school moving to a distinct space within the wider community campus setting, with a separate school entrance and classrooms, sensory rooms and therapy suites. The proposal to relocate the school comes after extensive informal engagement with staff and parents over a number of years on future plans for the school.
Aberdeenshire Council is implementing a nine area model of Enhanced Provision to ensure fair, equitable and transparent provision across Aberdeenshire for children and young people with additional support needs, providing a continuum of support in each Area and ensuring we provide the right support, in the right place, at the right time:
https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/media/16389/ecs_9_areas_a4_map.pdf
https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/media/16803/right-support-right-place-right-time-a-guide-for-parents.pdf
St Andrew’s School is the Community Resource Hub for the Inverurie, Kemnay and Westhill clusters, providing both in-reach and outreach services and support to children and young people with more complex needs in our schools and communities.
Accordingly, we wanted to ensure you have the opportunity to participate in the formal consultation process.
Formal consultation must now take place in line with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 and gives staff, parents and pupils another chance to have their say on the proposals.
The consultation will open on 9 January 2017 and close on 24 February 2017. Any written comments on the proposals must be received by Aberdeenshire Council within this time in order for them to be taken into account. Please send any written responses to: Anne Marie Davies, Quality Improvement Manager ASN, to be received no later than 5pm on Friday 24 February 2017. They should be posted to Aberdeenshire Council, Education & Children’s Services, Woodhill House, Westburn Road, Aberdeen, AB16 5GB or emailed to: LearningEstates@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
As part of the consultation process, a public meeting will take place on 01 February 2017 at 7pm in the Inverurie Academy Assembly Hall.
Please find below links to the Aberdeenshire Council Education Consultations web page, which includes links to the consultation proposal document, including accessible versions: http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/schools/education-consultations/
An online survey will be available as part of the consultation. This can be completed at the following address: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ProposedRelocationOfStAndrewsSchoolStatutoryConsultation
The consultation proposal document contains further information on where additional copies of the proposal document may be obtained.
It is expected that the results of the consultation will be discussed by Garioch Area Committee in Spring 2017 before a recommendation is made to the Education & Children’s Services Committee for a final decision to be taken in Summer 2017.
The formal consultation process will run alongside the ongoing process of communication and collaboration between officers and all stakeholders in developing the proposed designs. Aberdeenshire Council continue to value the active engagement and positive contribution of parents and staff.
Yours sincerely
Craig Clement
Head of Resources and Performance
