As someone who believes passionately in the value of public schools, I have always struggled with the idea of private education.

In the most simplified terms, why should those who can afford to pay receive a higher standard of education?

However, this view, which I continue to sympathise with, does not take into account the rights and freedoms of individuals.

A democratic society has many values but there is none more important than freedom.

Whether you agree with the decisions that others make or not, there is one key principle to being a good neighbour, mind your own business.

I fundamentally believe that, generally speaking, it is families - not the government - who knows what is best for children in our society.

Last week, Cedars School in Greenock announced it would close.

It has been claimed that this is partly due to a new 20% VAT charge that the UK Government has introduced on private schools.

Regardless of your views on private education, Cedars is not a typical private school.

The small class sizes that Cedars offers is attractive to families, who can afford it, that have children with Additional Support Needs.

Cedars has been an asset for young people who find the noisy nature of mainstream public schools to be overwhelming.

The news that the school will close has brought tremendous stress to these young people who are settled in the school.

As citizens of Inverclyde, it is crucial that we stand with the young people of Cedars with Additional Support Needs for whom a change to mainstream public school will be extremely daunting.

We must stand with the parents who will be feeling anxious about their children’s future.

We must stand with the teachers of Cedars who have devoted their vocation to educate the next generation and now face unemployment.

We also must stand with the businesses and organisations who will be worse off as a result of Cedars closing.

Personally, I believe the decision by the new UK Government to introduce a 20% VAT charge was the correct decision, as long as the money generated from it is used to conduct a review of, and is invested in, services that bring equal outcomes for all children with Additional Support Needs, regardless of which school they attend.

The parents of Cedars School, simply want parliamentarians to understand the stress that this situation has caused.

As someone who believes passionately in public education and has wrestled with the purpose of private education in the past, this has not been a natural conclusion for me to come to but as a youth parliamentarian, I feel that it is my duty to stand up for all young people, regardless of which school they find themselves in.

The news that Cedars will close is hugely disappointing for the young people who attend, the teachers who work there and the whole community.

However, I am confident that our dedicated public-school teachers will make the transition as smooth as possible for these young people and do their best with the limited resources they have.