Is small beautiful when it comes to schools?

By Catherine Henderson

With a school roll of just 4 children Flotta Community School believes that small can truly be beautiful, and more importantly can provide a valid and meaningful education to the islanders children.  Flotta is one of  20 inhabited Orkney islands, situated in the Scapa Flow and with a population of just over 80 islanders.  The island is just 2000 acres across, and no more than 58 metres above sea level, its name coming from the Old Norse for flat.

The 4 children at Flotta Community School

At a time when the public pound is coming under increasing pressure, and school rolls are facing  scrutiny in many areas of Scotland in deciding how best to invest ever tightening budgets Orkney Islands Council has continued to invest in small island schools like Flotta, feeling that they are the life blood in sustaining island communities.    Headteacher, Frieda Napier says “This is an amazing committment by Orkney islands Council to provide a high quality educational opportunity to these 4 children and through that help to sustain Flotta as a thriving community.”

Napier, who originally comes from Shetland,  is new to heading up the school, arriving in September, having previously taught in a busy inner city school in London before moving back to Scotland.  Heading up a school where the number of pupils can be counted on the fingers of one hand brings  its own distinct challenges.  Napier says “The teacher-child ratio is small so it’s important not to overwhelm the children with attention, to give them space to learn and interact with each other in the most natural way.”

Moving from primary to secondary school is challenging for most children but for those from Flotta the transition is particularly stark.  After 7 years in their small island school they transfer to the Grammar School in Kirkwall which has a school roll of over 900 children, boarding at the hostel during the week  and returning to Flotta each weekend.  A  big part of the school’s focus is therefore preparation for this transition, Napier says ” It’s something the school takes seriously – we need to help the children to become savvy and streetwise, to feel confident adapting to different teachers and comfortable as part of bigger groups.”

Flotta parent, Karen Shaw moved with her family to the island from Nottingham 5 years ago.  Her youngest son currently attends the island primary, whilst her older son moved up to Kirkwall Grammar School 2 months ago.  Shaw says “It was a tough move, he’s a home bird so leaving home and boarding at the hostel was really difficult for him.  The school is getting better at preparing children for the move, this year they’re getting a lot of children from the different small islands together so they’ll have chance to get to know each other before they move up to the Grammar School.”

Shaw was attracted to life on Flotta in large part because of the size of the school “We knew that the children would get more individual attention, life on Flotta is like being part of a big family, everyone knows each other and looks out for each other.  The reality has its difficulties, like all families there are arguments and it’s not always plain sailing.  It was the right move for us, I wouldn’t go back to Nottingham.”

As for the long term future of  Flotta Community School, like most small schools its survival is precarious.  All 4 current pupils move onto the Grammar School in the next 2 years,  Shaw says “It’s a worry for all the islanders but we’ve been in this position before.  It’s not just about the school closing, the fire team is in danger, the shop owners are now in their 70′s and there’s an aging population on the island, these are the issues we are having to face up to every day.”