A COMMUNITY has been “busting a gut” to save a mothballed Borders village primary school, councillors have been told.

Eddleston Primary School closed two years ago when pupil numbers fell to just four.

When members of Scottish Borders Council’s Education Sub-committee met on Tuesday (June 18) they were told there is a “reasonable prospect” that the number of children in the school’s catchment area will grow, with housebuilding projects proposed in the area.

It was agreed to continue to mothball the school for a second review to take place in May 2025.

Members were also informed that a first review of the mothballing process was delayed, due in part to council staff issues.

Tweeddale West councillor Viv Thomson said the community was “busting a gut” to help restore the school and emphasised that the review delay was not their fault in any way.

She said: “My community council would be very cross with me if I didn’t make a comment on their behalf.

“It relates to the delay. The delay that we had was almost six months in the process of the review and there was an issue of staffing and staff leaving but when the discussions took place with the community council about putting the survey together the delay was not in any part because of their input, but there was not much feedback and quite a few issues they put forward weren’t included in the survey.

“There is concern on their part on how inclusive it was and the benefit to the community, and I wanted to put that out there. They are very keen to try and save the school and are looking at options.

“They wish to keep the school because it is the hub of any community.”

A report to the committee from Lesley Munro,the council’s director of education and lifelong learning, said: “There are signs that there is a reasonable prospect that the numbers of children in the area, who do wish to attend a reinstated Eddleston Primary School, will grow.

“Given the number of children in the catchment area at today’s date, the projected possible housebuilding and the birth/ population data for the area, it is reasonable to expect that this could lead to a more sustainable and viable school roll and in line with what is ‘generally’ wanted by parents and carers which is more than one composite class.

“Officers believe that the proposal to continue to mothball for another year appears to be the most reasonable option to allow time to ascertain whether there is the potential for the demand to increase, to allow the school to be reinstated.”

The school roll fluctuated between 63 and 51 between 1999 and 2017, but fell steadily afterwards.

At the start of the 2021/22 there were 24 pupils enrolled, which in accordance with Scottish Government regulations equated to a single composite class.

That small number resulted in placement requests being submitted by parents and pupil numbers continued to fall throughout the school year.

Pupils from Eddleston were transferred to Halyrude, Kingsland, Newlands, Priorsford and West Linton primary schools.

The final remaining pupils were transferred to Newlands Primary School in Romanno Bridge.