This article appears as part of the Lessons to Learn newsletter.

Schools across Scotland have shut their doors for the summer, but not all will reopen for the autumn term.

If you have followed any of The Herald’s education coverage in recent months, you have read stories about council strategies for mothballing schools and nurseries and the Scottish Government guidance which sets the rules for this process.

Mothballing refers to the temporary closure of a school (or nursery), and local authorities are required to review this decision at least once a year.

Mothballing is intended to provide schools with a lifeline. Instead, it is often used as a way for councils to prolong the inevitable.

As a result, painful decisions become more painful and drag on for years.

The vast majority of mothballed schools never reopen, to the point that campaigners have come to describe mothballing as “closure by stealth”.

It is not difficult to see why this is the case. Technically, local authorities are only allowed to mothball a school when the roll has fallen to zero, or very close to zero, according to guidance for the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.

At first glance, a recent decision regarding Fountainhall Primary School in the Scottish Borders Council appears to be a........

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