A PEEBLES primary school is about to come under the spotlight as education chiefs plan the future of classrooms across the Borders.

Halyrude Primary, along with the region's three other Roman Catholic schools, is to be reviewed over the coming months.

And several smaller primaries in the Peebles High catchment area will also come under focus in a separate study.

Members of Scottish Borders Council's ruling Executive committee will be asked to rubber stamp proposals next week for a major look into the region's schooling.

And top of the list will be a detailed probe into the future of denominational education.

A major consultation exercise, carried out during March, highlighted significant problems in maintaining four Roman Catholic primary schools - in Peebles, Galashiels, Selkirk and Hawick - with a single headteacher.

In her report, to be tabled next Tuesday, senior lead officer Anne-Theresa Lawrie stated: "It has proved problematic for the headteacher to work across four schools and this is partly due to the time it takes to travel the considerable distance between the schools.

"Parents in one of the schools have raised concerns about the proportion of time the headteacher is in the school. Staff have also raised concerns about the difficulty of having only one headteacher.

"The current structure is particularly challenging, as we have no headteachers in SBC on standby who are Roman Catholic approved who can provide supply during periods of leadership absence as we are able to do in our non-denominational schools.

"It has been extremely challenging recruiting Roman Catholic teaching staff to the schools, thus making the delivery of Roman Catholic religious education problematic."

Halyrude currently has a roll of 93 pupils, 40 per cent are Roman Catholic, with St Margaret's in Galashiels having 72 pupils (46 per cent Catholic), St Margert's in Hawick has 15 pupils (75 per cent Catholic) and St Joseph's in Selkirk has 21 pupils (14 per cent Catholic).

Ms Lawrie added: "Taking into the account the challenges facing the Roman Catholic schools in terms of recruitment and retention of Roman Catholic staff, leadership capacity across the four schools and the current lack of capacity in the substantive structure to take forward improvements, it would be an appropriate time to carry out a review of Roman Catholic education provision in the Scottish Borders.

"This initial review will act as a pre-consultation in advance of possible statutory consultation."

During March's initial school estates consultation, parents from other primaries in Peebles made calls for Halyrude to be stripped of its denominational status to ease the growing pressure on both Priorsford and Kingsland.

A separate report, which will go before councillors next week, states: "The capacity concern is shared by the parents from Kingsland and Priorsford,

with potential population growth being cited as a potential future issue.

"Responses from these Primaries suggest that Halyrude be looked at in relation to denominational status and whether the spare capacity in the school could be utilised differently."

As well as launching a review of Catholic education this month, education chiefs also want to turn the spotlight on rural schools with rolls of less than 50 - which includes bothEddleston (47) and Walkerburn (27) - in an attempt to find sustainable solutions.

Parents at Eddleston have already suggested a catchment review for their school.

The consultation report states: "Both Walkerburn and Eddleston Primaries responded with concerns about the falling rolls and the impact this can have on the community.

"Walkerburn respondents express concern about the number of placing requests made to other schools.

"The absence of an Early Years provision in Eddleston and Out of School Care in Walkerburn are believed to be factors in people making choices to attend other schools."

During March's consultation exercise into school estates a total of 60 people attended the event at Peebles High, 86 people from the school completed a survey, and six pupils returned a questionnaire.

Education director Donna Manson will ask councillors to approve plans for an initial review - looking at Roman Catholic education, mothballed schools, small rural schools, and education provision in Jedburgh, Eyemouth, Hawick and Galashiels - to start this month.

She will also ask for approval to launch a second phase of the school estate review - looking at Peebles, Berwickshire, Earlston and Kelso clusters - during 2017/18.