Campaigners from Mauricewood Primary School in Penicuik are escalating their complaints as they fear major issues are being overlooked and the school is being ‘forgotten’, leaving pupils at risk.
Midlothian Council is the fastest-growing local authority in Scotland and the area surrounding the school has undergone a huge transformation in the last 12 years, with the ongoing development of over 1,000 new homes. There is also a significant presence of military families, typically contributing over 20% of the school roll.
Despite this, the school – which was built to serve a much smaller community and catchment in the north-west of Penicuik – remains much the same size. Built in the 1970s, the layout of the school poses substantial accessibility challenges and even basic maintenance is a constant struggle due to insufficient budget provision.
As a result of large-scale housebuilding, and catchment changes to include Auchendinny, it has been confirmed that the school is due to breach capacity as soon as August 2026, a year earlier than previously estimated. However, despite Midlothian Council commissioning their appointed architects to develop various plans for extension and refurbishment, they have not obtained sufficient developer contributions to cover the cost of even the minimum requirements to accommodate the increasing school roll.
The project is currently paused while Midlothian Council identifies both an interim and more affordable long-term solution for capacity requirements.
While the size of the school is an issue, parents are also concerned about the safety of their children following a spate of issues. These include an electrical fault nearly resulting in a fire, detected initially by children smelling smoke from their class; and longstanding roofing problems leading to leaks in classrooms.
Suitability reports rating the building as poor – showing major problems and/or not operating optimally – date as far back as May 2018, with no works so far taken to address the issues. This is negatively affecting the children and staff, with minimal provision for mainstream ASN support, PE, music and art, as well as impacting on everyday learning.
Vital developer contributions – which were agreed as part of Taylor Wimpey, Cala Homes and Avant Homes developments, which commenced in 2017 – have been used to cover a previous extension of the school which took place in 2006, long before planning was approved for the additional 1015 homes in the catchment.
Questions have also been raised about the inequity between schools in the area, with other schools having their challenges addressed by developer contributions, Council borrowing or Scottish Government funding. Midlothian schools are allocated the same maintenance budgets, despite significant differences in age and condition of the buildings, further extenuating the inequity visible across the learning estate.
The call for support to Jenny Gilruth MSP follows a meeting held at the school on March 20, which attracted a large turn out to discuss the situation.
Parents and teachers were joined by six Midlothian Council representatives and three councillors at the event, which revealed that while Midlothian Council cannot afford to allocate further funding, the situation is worse than originally believed.
Parent and chair of the Parent Council for Mauricewood Primary School, David Mackay, said: “Midlothian Council has unfortunately failed to plan for and address the needs of the school over a sustained period of time, leading to a perfect storm of major issues – capacity, condition and suitability.
“Despite Council awareness and discussions going back years, Mauricewood seems to have fallen through multiple cracks and never been prioritised when it comes to developer contributions or other sources of funding.
“Having given Midlothian Council the opportunity to answer our questions and address our concerns we, the parents of Mauricewood, do not accept the sorry state that Mauricewood Primary School has been left to contend with. We’re extremely concerned about the safety of the building, as well as the long-term effects that these issues are having on the children’s education. Too much senior leadership time is spent performing second roles as maintenance managers.
“Ultimately, the Council is failing to provide a suitable environment where the children can learn, despite the best efforts of school staff, who often go above and beyond for them. We are worried that it will take a serious incident, or for it to reach a point of no return, for this matter to be addressed.
Having seen what happened with Mayfield Primary School in December, there unfortunately seems to be a pattern developing regarding schools in Midlothian. A pattern that only purposeful action can break.
“Until a commitment is in place to address the major issues outlined as a matter of urgency, we will continue to ensure our voice is both loud and clear.”