Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 10:37 am on 13 January 2011.
I thank the education secretary for offering to do that—I would warmly welcome him to my constituency and to Banchory academy, and I would like to take him up on that offer. I will write to him on that point.
However, Mr Russell misses the point: he says that five to eight subjects are available, but that is not in one year—Banchory academy has said that it cannot do that.
I would like to know, on a national basis, how many schools the education secretary believes are in the same boat as Banchory academy. How many schools does he think will be able to offer bright students the choice of taking eight subjects in a single year as they have at present? I suspect that once schools have examined the implications in respect of the curriculum for excellence—because they have not looked at it yet—they will see that they do not have a curriculum for excellence but the reverse, and that is a genuine concern.
I am glad that the education secretary has offered to come to Banchory, because that will be