Head Teacher’s Blog- 17th April.

Welcome back to the Summer term, which promises to be a busy one. We are looking forward to camp, sports events, jubilee celebrations and much more.

At the end of last term, there was a hint that some parents were still concerned about school closures and I wanted to talk very briefly about that.

I cannot claim to know what the most recent council thinking is about school closures or how that may change after the May elections. What I can say is that the council presently support rural and small schools and no one has at any time intimated to me that there is a threat of closure of either of our two schools. Part of the support to small schools is to look at ways of making them economically more viable. Of course one way of doing this is in sharing a Head Teacher as it halves the salary for each school- and you all know that HT’s are paid a huge amount!!

Our numbers are going from strength to strength- at this time last year Saltoun had 42 children and Humbie 11 (not including Nurseries); at present we have 55 and 17 in school; in August we will be at 64 and 21.  So numbers are in our favour. Our staff team is fabulous- they work together to produce the best service we can for the two schools- the pooling of ideas and expertise brings real benefits. The parent forums are supportive and pro-active and help carry forward the work of the schools.

It is my belief that the future for Humbie and Saltoun looks healthy. The greatest strength and asset we have is each other. If we can continue to work together to build a strong identity for our two schools, then I hope we can continue to sustain our numbers, keep older pupils for longer and attract in new families.

In this spirit, closure would not be a word in our collective vocabulary.

Here’s to a great term,

Lindy Lynn