PARENTS fighting to save an under-threat primary in one of the city's most deprived communities today warned they will move their children out of the area if the school closes.
Campaigners battling to keep Westburn Primary School open say they will not send their children to any of three alternative schools proposed by the council.
The Wester Hailes school is one of three on the council's hit-list, along with Bingham's L
ismore Primary and Leith's Bonnington Primary. A public consultation into the future of the three schools is under way.
Under the proposals, pupils from Westburn would go to either Murrayburn, Sighthill or Canal View if the school were to close next August, as recommended by the education department.
But parents say these schools are "not up to the same standard" as Westburn, and would rather move their children out of catchment, to schools in other parts of the city, than send them there.
They say closing the school would be just another nail in the coffin for the area, which is also set to lose its community centre.
Around 50 parents attended a meeting held last week to discuss their plan of action to fight the proposals.
David Corcoran, one of the campaigning parents, said everyone who turned up claimed they would boycott the three alternative schools and send their children elsewhere in the city.
Mr Corcoran said: "I asked the parents how many of them would take their children outwith the catchment schools of Canal View, Sighthill and Murrayburn if the school were to close.
"Every one of them said they would take their children out of the catchment area and exercise their right of parental choice.
"They are just not prepared to put them in these three schools.
"I would be taking my child out of the area because I would not allow him to go to any of the three schools mentioned. They are not up to the same standard as Westburn.
"Murrayburn already has 80 per cent capacity and not the best building, Canal View has a bad reputation and Sighthill is falling apart and there are too many junkies and undesirables hanging around there."
He added: "Wester Hailes is getting kicked in the teeth in every way and this is just another way of getting at the area. It goes against the whole regeneration plans."
Parents also warn that closing Westburn would reduce the number of pupils attending secondary school Wester Hailes Education Centre (WHEC) to less than 400 as some would have to go to Forrester High School, and claim this could "put it under closure-threat" once again.
They are also angry that parents of youngsters at WHEC haven't been officially informed about the proposals to close Westburn.
WHEC's acting headteacher Jane Frith said: "We have been in touch with the authority as the consultation leaflets we hoped to receive haven't arrived in school yet."
A council spokeswoman said: "We follow Scottish Government legislation which allows parents to state a preference about where they send their child to school.
"This legislation stipulates that if there is space in a school then we cannot refuse a child a place, even if it is not in their catchment area."
The full article contains 546 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
