The island split over where to build a new high school | Global News Avenue

Children on Mull have been separated from the island’s only high school location for decades.

Students living in the north of Scotland’s fourth largest island attend school in Tobermory, its main settlement.

However, most people have to leave their families for an hour and a half drive south and take a ferry to mainland Scotland, where they live in boarding schools within a week.

With Tobermory High School falling into disrepair and planning to build a multimillion-pound alternative, many in the South see it as an opportunity to see them as historic injustice.

They are running for a new school residence, such as Craighure, which is home to the main ferry port and island hospitals.

This will allow students on both ends of the island to attend the same school – so children in the south can stay at home once they reach middle school.

But parents in the north of the island hope the new school is built at the location of Tobermory’s existing high school.

Argyll and Bute Council have been shortlisted for four options for the new school location and a decision was scheduled to be made on Thursday – but the vote has been delayed until a special meeting of the Council on March 7.

The committee’s preferred choice is to establish an alternative school in Tobermory, but the “similar” element of funding means that the island’s capital will lose its early and primary school rules.

Many community members had hoped that a “split option” would be offered to allow a new primary school and nursery in the Tobermory community, but the council said it was too expensive.

Marion MacLean lives in Tobermory, and her two daughters are currently in high school.

While the decision would not directly affect her family, Marion thought it was “the right opportunity for every child living on the island.”

Although she doesn’t think it’s a “elimination” of the feelings of family in Mull’s family, she fears the impact of the village she calls herself home for her whole life.

She told BBC Scotland News: “Tobermory won’t lose primary school.

“It will have a huge impact on businesses on the high street and I think we will lose the feeling of having kids in town all day.”

The main road to Ross of Mull The main road is the village of Carsaig, home to Amy Simpson and her daughter Daisy, six years old and Rosie and Rosie.

Amy said that if she chose the council’s preferred choice for a new school in Tobermory, she would be forced to leave the village when her children reach middle school, rather than not being separated from them if they had to board the plane in Oban.

She added: “We love life here and we have become an integral part of the community.

“We don’t want to leave, we don’t want to bring our kids out of this community, this is where they were born and raised.”

Fifty miles south of Tobermory, this is the village of Bunessan, and the journey takes about an hour and a half due to the single-track road.

Rob Claxton-Ingham, who lives with her husband at the clumsy guy, said the future is uncertain because he doesn’t know where the foster child will go to middle school.

Just like things, she travels and boards in Oban every week – like all the kids in the south of the island.

He told BBC Scotland News: “As foster care, our children have suffered separation and loss from her birth family and have had to transition to us as her alternative caregivers.

“It’s hard to think of her transitioning to a school again when she was 11 years old, at sea, where she had to get a ferry where she wouldn’t get our day-to-day support.”

Rob said high school has been a “problem” for the community and people have “learned as good as possible.”

He added: “But this situation is developing new things, which does allow the Argyll and Bute Councils to develop something new and, in fact, continue to exclude people on the island while the plan is being implemented.”

Rebekah MacLean also lives in the village of Bunessan with her four children.

Her youngest child attends a local primary school, but for her second-level kids, things are a little more complicated.

She said: “For me, whether it’s junior age, early education or middle school students, what I’m looking for is equality across the island.

“One of the key aspects is that secondary schools are center-based so all children can attend and have to choose between education and family.”

Rebekah manages to arrange with her son, Jude, 15, to live with a family friend during the week, so he is slightly closer to home, while her daughter, Acacia, 14, is homeschooled.

Jude also favors a concentrated school, so when it comes to his siblings going to high school, they can stay home without being less educated than his.

He said: “I worry, because I have to travel so far, I spend less time in school.

“I want to be an engineer who needs direct.

“I’m worried I won’t be able to get this because I have to travel a lot and I might be behind in the classroom.”

Obviously, the debate over where to build new schools is a problem of consuming islanders.

It’s everywhere, and everyone has an opinion on it.

Argyll and Bute Council said: “Building a new 2-18 campus in Mull is Argyll, with a maximum investment of the Bute Council estimated to be £43 million.

“After extensive community engagement and detailed assessment, lawmakers will consider a report that recommends a preferred website on February 27 and have filed a motion to hold the issue on March 7.”