Fight continues to save school after community control plan was rejected

Campaigners have vowed to continue the fight to save their local primary school after a bid to remove it from council control was rejected by the Education Secretary.

Campaigners for closure-threatened St Joseph's Primary School in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, said they are ''very disappointed'' by the decision taken by John Swinney, but they are determined to carry on.

Mr Swinney set out a raft of reforms to Scotland's school system in a statement at Holyrood on Thursday.

Rejecting the bid to take St Joseph's out of local authority control to be run by the community, he said councils will retain a ''vital role'' in the education system.

The plans were first submitted to the Scottish Government in February 2015 after receiving unanimous support from the school's parent council.

Chair Helen Williams said: ''We are very disappointed that the Scottish Government is not supporting our proposals to keep St Joseph's in Milngavie.

After sitting on our proposals for more than two years, it would have been nice to get a phone call from John Swinney himself instead of an anonymous civil servant.

The Education Secretary ought to know that he won't improve education by allowing good schools to close. All we were asking for was a pilot to prove that a community-led school could work successfully. This is a lost opportunity for everyone and time is running out.''

Paula Speirs, whose two children attended St Joseph's, said: ''The success of Jordanhill, in Glasgow, shows that giving parents a bigger say in schools can help raise standards. We don't understand why the Scottish Government won't let us do the same in Milngavie.

However, our campaign was always about saving our school rather than getting involved in bigger debates about Scottish education. That is still our priority and we are going to keep on fighting. We have a new administration on East Dunbartonshire Council who can make new choices.

We have already met with our MP Jo Swinson and we will be going back to the council to put our case to them again.'