IT’S the campaign every parent should back as the Press calls for urgent action for our schools.

We’re sitting on a ticking timebomb when it comes to getting the best education for our kids.

Here’s why:

12,000 new houses in West Fife in the next 20 years will pile even more pressure on a creaking education system.

If nothing is done, there’ll be NO places at ANY of the high schools by l 2021-22. 

Woodmill High will be full in less than 18 months.

Inverkeithing, St Columba’s and Woodmill are crumbling, out of date and costly to maintain. 

Catchment changes could cause overcrowding at Queen Anne, with potentially 600 more pupils added to the roll. 

Dunfermline High also faces a less urgent problem.

New schools are needed urgently to keep pace with the scale of development in Dunfermline. Plans to tackle the looming crisis include:

New West Fife high school.

Replacements for Inverkeithing, St Columba’s and Woodmill, as well as Tulliallan Primary School.

But it’s likely to cost around £150 million – money Fife Council don’t have.

So something needs to happen.

That’s why we’re launching our Action for Schools campaign, calling for all parents, teachers, politicians, councillors, Fife Council and the Scottish Government to work together to tackle the problems NOW and ensure our kids continue to receive the best education they possibly can. That is their right. 

Councillor Helen Law, chair of the City of Dunfermline area committee, said: “There are capacity issues, there’s no escaping that, and a catchment review will help in the short term. But you’re tinkering at the edges. 

“The single most important thing over the next five years is to get money from the Scottish Government and to get replacement schools for Inverkeithing, St Columba’s and Woodmill under way. 

“There’s a desperate need for them. The new high school could come after that.”

The council is moving quickly to try to resolve the capacity risk at Woodmill, caused by the number of houses built in Dunfermline’s eastern expansion. 

But that won’t meet the demand from a new front of residential development, mainly to the north, west and south-west of the town, with thousands more homes and families coming to the area in the next decade.

Inverkeithing, St Columba’s and Woodmill are all rated condition C. The council has said all schools should be A or B.

A spokesperson said the replacement of these three schools was the education service’s “next priority”.  The council also wants to address “anomalies” involving catchment areas for 12 primary schools, including Masterton, Pitreavie, Commercial, St Margaret’s, Torryburn, Park Road and Culross.

Staring this week and continuing in the weeks and months ahead, we’ll highlight the issues surrounding our West Fife schools.

We need Action for Schools – something needs to happen. And it needs to start happening soon.