Council discussing “sending” Boroughmuir kids to Tynecastle.

[watchinginhorror]

Apparently discussion of some Boroughmuir kids being moved(?)/taught(?)/squatting(?) at Tynecastle is being held by the council:

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/boroughmuir-pupils-could-be-sent-to-tynecastle-for-classes-under-plans-to-tackle-overcrowding-8938749

On reading this, part of me wondered if it was more of a threat to keep parents paying for private? A great deal of the Boroughmuir catchment have historically gone private, but with Boroughmuir already over subscribed, there’s going to be serious issues if significant numbers choose to stay in state school after the VAT introduction.

I think they probably need to redraw the boundaries. Or extend Boroughmuir on the empty lot on the east side.

Edit. Ignore I thought it said Tyneside

I read the article - it’s a 16 minute walk and presumably they’d timetable it so it was half days or similar. And a very temporary problem as the numbers fall dramatically in 5 years. I think it’s a clever solution honestly and much easier than permanently redrawing the boundaries or spending millions on a school that will be built just in time to not need it anymore.

It’s absolutely astonishing how quickly the school rolls fall so any boundary re-drawing will only need to be temporary. The parents will be up in arms as Tynecastle has a much worse reputation and you pay an absolute fortune to get in the Boroughmuir catchment.

Where has this been reported?

I only saw it in the Evening News, linked above. The Herald is behind a paywall, but it looks like they have a longer piece on school roll in Edinburgh.

As @Ballybeat has said, parents will have paid a good 20-30% more to buy in the Boroughmuir catchment.

I also think that their projections will be off as nobody really knows what the impact of VAT will be. I think it will hit primary schools very hard and earlier, whereas secondaries may prove to be more robust or a slower taper off. Either way, I think there will always be demand for more places at Boroughmuir. The current school was already too small when first opened.

I hope this doesn’t swamp Tynie. It’s a great wee school. Both my DCs got 5As over a set of very academic Highers and found the teachers very supportive. Attending classes across other schools happens anyway to help timetable subject choices but not on this scale and Tynecastle, like most schools, has also grown a lot since DC1 started.

Tynecastle? OMG where Hearts play? "Nae rugby for you, ma loon it's fitba".

Next thing the wedgies will be sending Hutchies pupils to Ibrox.
Oh the humanity!

Well maybe this will help spread out the demand a bit. It's not really sustainable to build bigger schools constantly while the birth rates continue to drop so dramatically.