ST Katharines Preparatory School in St Andrews has unveiled plans to develop junior and middle school education in closer association with its St Leonards parent
For pupils this will mean a junior period in a re-named St Katharines and middle school years within St Leonards School itself.
Announcing the changes on Tuesday, the St Leonards Council described them as ''renewing a commitment to preparatory educa
tion and giving opportunities for future expansion.''
The youngest children (3-8yrs) will remain in the St Katharines building and will attend what will be named St Leonards Junior School.
However, older prep school children (8-12yrs) will move to the new St Leonards Middle School which will operate within the St Leonards School buildings.
Sir Fraser Morrison, chairman of the St Leonards School Council, said: ''We have been looking for some time at ways to broaden our junior school education.
''Having examined a number of options, the Council of St Leonards have decided that these plans represent the very best way forward for St Katharines pupils.
''This scheme gives opportunities to expand both the Junior and Middle Schools and also allows us to continue to focus specialist attention on pupils in the younger age group, while also providing - in the Middle School - an effective bridge into our senior school education.''
The Junior and Middle Schools will have their own Board of Management chaired by Roy Chapman, a long-standing member of the St Leonards Council and a former chairman of HMC, headmaster of Malvern College and rector of Glasgow Academy.
Other members of the Board will be James Ogilvy, a St Katharines parent and member of the St Leonards Council; Mrs Laura Van Zyl, current chairman of the St Katharines Parent Teachers Association; Dr Hania Allen - vice-principal (ICT) of St Andrews University - and the Reverend Jonathan Mason, rector of All Saints Church, St Andrews.
Mrs Joan Gibson, present head of St Katharines, who is leaving to take up a new job in the south, will also join the Board, thus maintaining her association with the school.
The St Leonards Council have also announced the names of the two staff members who will manage this change. Mrs Alison Turnbull and Miss Dianne Cormack will become head of the Junior and Middle Schools respectively.
Both are members of the current St Katharines staff and will work closely with Mrs Wendy Bellars, principal of St Leonards, as well as joining the St Leonards Management Team.
