Unst is the most northerly island in Britain, enjoying a beautiful landscape, abundant wildlife and still has a real community spirit where everybody works together and families are able to thrive in a vibrant rural location. With shops, schools, a leisure centre, low crime and the great outdoors, Unst has a way of life not seen elsewhere in the UK.

In the past few months this way of life has been coming under threat, mainly in the form of the Shetland Islands Council (S.I.C.) - Education Department - proposals which are titled the ‘Blueprint For Education’.

Current Provision

Currently, Unst has 2 primary schools (Uyeasound and Baltasound) and 1 Secondary School (Baltasound Junior High School). These schools are well equipped, staffed by enthusiastic and dynamic people and offer a fantastic level of education from Nursery (age 3) to Secondary 4 (age 16). Once students reach 16 years of age, they can transfer to Lerwick to undertake their Higher SQA accreditation.

The Blueprint For Education has made a formal proposal to close Uyeasound Primary School.

This decision was made even though Uyeasound Primary has been inspected by HMIe (May 2010) which classed it as ‘outstanding, sector leading’ in 4 out of the 5 main areas. This means that the school is one of the best in Scotland and is a fine example of a fully inclusive and dynamic primary school - fully embracing the new Curriculum for Excellence.

Read what the HMIe think about the school here and decide for yourself if the school should be closed.

How You Can Help

You can help in many ways, including:

1. Contact the Education Department

Express your own views to the Education Department who can be contacted at:

Schools Service

Education and Social Care Department

Hayfield House

Hayfield Lane

Lerwick

Shetland

ZE1 0QD

Telephone: 01595 744000

Fax: 01595 744010

General:education.and.social.services@shetland.gov.uk

Head of Schools Service: Head.of.Education.Services@shetland.gov.uk

2. Contact the councillors

Express your own views to the elected members of the Shetland Islands Council. Follow this link which will take you to the council members website. This contains all the contact details and information for the 22 members.

3. Contact Tavish Scott MSP or Alistair Carmichael MP

Express your own views to the elected members at Holyrood and Westminster.

4. Assist in forming arguments against rural school closures

The Scottish Government are keen to safeguard rural schools and prevent local authorities from closing schools for purely financial reasons. You could help us form our argument by any of the following:

• Education Argument

• Legal Argument

• Transport Argument

• Other Arguments

To get in touch, please email: info@unst.org.

Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.