Dunottar to Stay Open!

On hearing the news, early on Sunday morning, the leader of Dunottar Voice, John Godden, commented: “We are of course delighted. It has been a very intense few weeks and we are very grateful to the Board for bringing their deliberations forward so that we could get an answer at the beginning of half term, a critical decision-making time for both parents and teachers. We have spent an amount of time with United Learning and are very confident of their ability to bring our school back to its full strength.”

Jon Coles, Chief Executive of United Learning said: “We are delighted to be progressing our involvement with Dunottar School. Over the past few weeks it has become clear to us that Dunottar School has a viable future as a successful school within United Learning. We are grateful both to the governors of RGS for their willingness to open discussions with us and to Dunottar Voice whose commitment to the future of their school is admirable. We look forward to working with them, staff and other families across the school community as we finalise how we bring what is already an academically excellent school into our group.”

Alan Walker, chairman of the school’s board of governors, said: “The consultation process has brought a number of proposals to the table that would allow the school to remain open. Being able to give parents, pupils and staff reassurances before our original deadline of 13 March is very pleasing.”

Over the next couple of weeks, the governors, working closely with Dunottar Voice, will undertake due diligence and contractual discussions with the prospective owner.