An open meeting was called on Monday 9th February by Comann nam Pàrant as a further stage in the development of proposals for a dedicated Gaelic School in Edinburgh.  Two open meetings had already taken place in September 2008, email communications had been sent out to parents summarising the main points of debate and this was the final chance for parents to raise issues of concern and put forward their views as a collective.

You can read the entire notes of the meeting, but in summary:

Parents overall were in agreement that the next step in the debate to develop Gaelic Medium Education in Edinburgh should be the establishment of a Gaelic School.  The main arguments supporting this were the restricted opportunities afforded by a Gaelic Medium Unit, the rising demand in Edinburgh for GME and the very clear political will on the part of both the Scottish Government and the Parliament to support best practice in minority language teaching – all of which could be met and managed through a dedicated Gaelic School in Edinburgh.

It was recognised that the future location of the school was an issue for parents, as were the availability of adequate teaching resources and support from the Local Authority.   Concern also focused upon the current secondary provision in James Gillespies High School (JGHS) for children studying Gaelic and parents questioned how this could be improved as an interim measure.  A pupil from JGHS offered a case study of how the current arrangements had impacted upon him.

In essence, parents agreed that the status quo enjoyed by current Tollcross GME pupils could not be maintained, that current secondary educational provision was having a negative impact on the relationship GME children held with the Gaelic language and that to develop Gaelic as a language in Edinburgh, meet standards of best practice and deliver the targets established in Government policy – a Gaelic School seemed the logical choice.