PARENTS of Broughton Primary School pupils packed a public meeting in the village to voice concerns about plans to join classes together.

At the July meeting of Upper Tweed Community Council (UTCC) mums claimed composite classes from August will disadvantage their children.

Chelsea Shapiro, the chair of Broughton Primary’s Parent Council, asked members of UTCC if they would back a proposed letter to Lesley Munro, the service director for young people engagement and inclusion at Scottish Borders Council.

From next term, as reported in the Peeblesshire News on June 24, the school will have only two classes: a composite P1, P2 and P3, and a P4, P5, P6 and P7.

Ms Shapiro said that if composite classes were necessary ideally there should be three not two.

Ms Shapiro said that some of the P7s in the proposed class are pretty advanced compared to the P4s.

Another mum said: “It’s a very vicious circle.

“If I’d known that my children were going to go into a 7-11-year-old composite class I would not have sent them there.”

A mum added: “According to Scottish government rules, if there are composite classes, it should be P5 to P7 and not from P4 to P7.”

The meeting was told that part of the issue is not all families in the village send their children to Broughton Primary because of its lack of ‘wraparound care” – such as a breakfast club and after-school activities.

A mum said: “There was so much talk about an after-school club but nothing has happened.”

Ms Shapiro added: “We are in a bit of a cycle where we have low numbers but we can’t build our numbers because no-one is prepared to do the wraparound.”

UTCC chairman Andrew Beveridge added: “The school is a vital hub in the community.”

Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale MSP Christine Grahame said: “I am very sympathetic to the parents’ concerns, we of course all want to make sure the right decisions are made for our children.

“I am meeting with my SBC SNP councillor colleagues tomorrow, who I understand are aware of this situation, and will discuss this further with them in case there is a further role for them.

“The decisions made in this specific case are for the school and indeed Scottish Borders Council in terms of its composite classes policies.

“My understanding is that Scottish Government guidelines are that there should be no more than 25 pupils in a class, which given the school roll of just over 40 I believe is being followed here.

“I would hope, however, that the school and, if necessary, the council can engage with parents to discuss this and ensure everyone involved feels their child will be adequately supported.”

A Scottish Borders Council spokesperson said: “Broughton PS currently has 41 children on its school roll.

“Scottish Government guidance stipulates that a composite class should have no more than 25 children.

“For a roll of 41 that equates to two teachers.

“There is no guidance on multi-composities as some of our school have one teacher for P1-7.

“We have many school across our authority which have two teachers for P1-7 and the classes are split accordingly.

“Teachers are highly skilled at delivering high quality education across a wide variety of age groups so children are in no way disadvantaged by a small school setting.

“We will continue to work closely with our local schools and communities to support falling rolls, through a variety of ways including forward planning.”