Parents' fury at school merger

THE motto for Kilgraston Roman Catholic boarding school for girls is "act with determination", and it appears the governors will have to do just that if a controversial merger with a much smaller non-denominational rival is to be accepted.

Parents and pupils of the nearby 90-pupil Butterstone prep school are "incandescent" over proposals to join forces with Kilgraston.

The announcement that the 13,000-a-year Perthshire establishment is to close its doors has stunned the school community. Butterstone girls draped banners across banisters protesting at the closure of their idyllic rural mansion near Meigle before senior staff told them to take them down.

Parents have besieged governors with complaints about the lack of consultation and are understood to have offered "hundreds of thousands of pounds" to support the 60-year-old school.

Governors have declined permission for parents to hold an urgent meeting in the school, although they have agreed to meet them on neutral ground if they accept in principle that the decision to transfer the pupils 22 miles to Kilgraston, in Bridge of Earn, is a necessity.

Adrian de Morgan, a property developer and parent, said the "sudden and unilateral decision" was a "travesty".

He said: "The denomination of Kilgraston is at the forefront of many parents’ minds. I have no problems with the Catholic faith, but had I wanted my daughter to attend a Catholic school, I would have sent her there." He said he had received assurances that Catholicism would not be imposed on children coming from Butterstone and that they would have the opportunity to practise their own religion.

However, Mr de Morgan insisted parents were frustrated that they were given no opportunity to avoid merger by helping Butterstone with a recruitment drive or by presenting it with "hundreds of thousands" to improve its facilities.