Tuesday September 1st 2026
Protest march
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Campaigning parents and pupils took to the streets in Eyemouth this week in the pursuit of educational justice.
There is growing frustration in the seaside town that other parts of the Scottish Borders have benefited from brand new schools but that 100-year-old plus Eyemouth Primary has still not been replaced.
Families want a new standalone facility but Scottish Borders Council still has the option on the table of moving pupils into the town’s High School.
On Monday parents, pupils and supporters staged a ‘Show up for our Schools’ event, meeting at the primary school gates and marching to Eyemouth High School.
The march was followed by a packed community engagement meeting at Eyemouth Parish Church, attended by MSPs.
On hand was East Berwickshire Independent councillor James Anderson, who is a driving force behind the new primary school campaign.
Now the families have demonstrated their commitment to the cause it is seen as essential that the political hierarchy gets behind the campaign.
A key date is Thursday, September 17, when local MP John Lamont and MSP Rachael Hamilton will be in attendance at a public meeting in the parish church.
Mr Anderson said: “The whole point of the march was to show the MSPs how many pupils came out of the primary and High School and they saw what we needed them to see to cement their support.
“We wanted them to see nearly 400 primary kids coming out so they understood what 400 kids looked like, so we stood them at the gate and let them march right through them and did the same a the High School. It gave context to the numbers.”
Political support for a new primary school has come from the Lib Dems and Reform with emphasis now on winning over Conservative and SNP elected members on Scottish Borders Council.
Mr Anderson added: “We are still in trouble, this isn’t finished. Getting the motion through of Eyemouth Primary standalone being the main focus, the priority, that’s fine, that’s words. What we need is the money and we don’t get that without political support.
“We’re hoping at the meeting on September 17th that we can get John Lamont and Rachael Hamilton to agree that next year’s election, when they want to return Conservatives to SBC, we want to make part of their campaign to put equity across the Borders for the schools first and foremost.”
Two options are on the table over the future of Eyemouth Primary School.
Late last year the plug was pulled on a Scottish Borders Council consultation launched over proposals for the relocation of the school into the town’s High School amid overwhelming public opposition.
It was agreed instead to launch an engagement plan with all elements of the community and for the formation of focus groups to agree a way forward.
In response to this engagement, officers have further developed two broad routes for consideration.
The first is the initial campus proposal, based on relocation of primary provision to the High School site, with a separate Early Years and Family Centre on the current primary site.
The second is an alternative new build proposal, based on a new standalone primary school with early years and family centre provision on or aligned to the existing primary school site.
Both routes have now been tested further against educational impact, programme, delivery risk, disruption, affordability and capital planning implications.
The key outcome of the work undertaken to date is that the alternative new build proposal appears capable of being delivered more quickly, but at materially higher cost, while the campus option appears less costly but would take longer to deliver and carries greater programme, operational and engagement complexity.
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