The dwindling roll – the smallest recorded in a Moray primary in 40 years – looks set to sound a death knell for the tiny school.

Community members fear that little can be done to reverse the trend of declining numbers at the school, which was yesterday described as being at the heart of the community.

Councillor Bob Wilson (Glenlivet) said he did not know how long the school could be sustained, given its small roll. “The school will be operational in the meantime, but sooner or later tough decisions will have to be made,” he said. “I would hate to see Cabrach School disappear because it is such an important asset in a remote area – it is the only facility that the community has.

“There is no easy answer and whatever decision is taken will be wrong in some people’s eyes.”

Despite its small size, the school has achieved much, winning a number of major honours and national competitions, and Councillor Wilson added: “It has made its mark educationally and the support it has received has been very wide.”

Councillor Wilson has held talks with a neighbouring Aberdeenshire councillor who represents the nearby Glass area, which also has a small primary school. He would not confirm that this might lead to a merger.

One Cabrach resident said it was a “great pity” that the role had fallen to a worringly low level, adding: “It is a really good school that has won lots of things, and has become the first eco-school in Moray.”

Despite the dwindling numbers, there will be no staffing changes at Cabrach, and the school will open as normal on Tuesday, Moray Council confirmed.

The new proposed strategy for tackling under-capacity in Moray primary schools means that a first-stage review of a school would be triggered when its pupil roll falls to 60% of its working capacity – a threshold which has been criticised by some communities.

If it is adopted, six primaries in Moray – St Peter’s in Buckie, East End in Elgin, Glenlivet, Cabrach, Newmill and Portknockie – would all come under scrutiny.

The Moray Save Our Schools Forum is against the use of the indicator, saying that the rule would place many small schools under near-constant threat of review, and threat of closure.

The council received more than 500 completed forms from parents and members of local communities as part of the consultation exercise. A council spokesman said: “Now the consultation has been concluded, a report will be submitted to the educational services committee who will then decide how they want to take it forward.”

Meanwhile, the new term will herald changes at four Moray primaries, who are set to welcome new head teachers. Lesley Meehan takes up the top job at Applegrove Primary School in Forres next week, following the retiral of Sandra Maclennan.

And a trio of schools will see their head teachers take up posts in September. Gail McIntosh, head at Crossroads at Grange, moves to Anderson’s Primary School in Forres to succeed Brian Bragg, and following the retirement of Ian Brodie at Kinloss, Robert Hair has become head teacher.

Ellie Pirie will become head at Portgordon, taking over from Davina Farquhar, who has moved to Hopeman Primary.

At Elgin Academy, rector Alistair Brown has taken up a permanent position with HMIE and depute head Alistair Rossetter becomes acting head.

e.green@northern-scot.co.uk

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