Falkirk Council

Frequently asked questions about school admissions.

1. Do I have any responsibilities for my child's education?
2. When should my child go to school?
3. Can I send my child to school before their fifth birthday?
4. How will I know when to enrol my child at school?
5. My child is finishing primary school. Where does my child go now?
6. Can I make a placing request for my child?
7. What happens to the placing request for my child?
8. My child has additional support needs, can I still apply for a placing request?
9. How does a placing request affect my child's transport to school?
10. How do I make a placing request?
11. Can I choose which school my child will attend?
12. How long do I have to wait to find out about my placing request?
13. Can I appeal against the refusal of my placing request?
14. What are additional support needs?

Do I have any responsibilities for my child's education?

Every parent who has a child of school age has a duty to provide that child with an education which is suitable to his or her age, aptitude and ability. Every parent must do this either by ensuring their child attends a public school regularly (or by any other means, for example by home education).

Falkirk Council has a corresponding duty to provide appropriate school education for all school age children.

A person of school age is a child or young person who has reached the age of five years, but has not yet reached the age of sixteen years.

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When should my child go to school?

Your child's age determines when they should go to school.  

• Aged 5 years on 1 March before the school term start date and up to and including the school term start date.
  Must start school on the school term start date.
  
• Aged 5 years on and between the day after the school term start date and the appropriate last date, which is usually the last day of February following the school term start date.
  May start school on the school term start date.
  
• Aged 5 years after the appropriate last date in February.
  Cannot start school until the following year.

The school term start date is usually between the second and third week of August.

Parents should be aware that it is their choice whether or not their child starts their primary one class whilst they are still four years of age.

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Can I send my child to school before their fifth birthday?

If a child has not reached the age of five years either on or before the school term start date (e.g. 22 August in a given year) or on or before the next following appropriate latest date (e.g. 28 February in the following year), then a parent is still able to request that their child start their primary education whilst they are still four years of age or younger. This is known as an 'early entry request'.

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How will I know when to enrol my child at school?

Parents of children who live within the catchment area of a school and parents of children identified by the education authority as being in need of educational provision at that school can make a request to enrol at that school by completing an enrolment form and submitting it directly to the school concerned on the school enrolment day:-

For Primary 1 enrolments, the Education Service will place an advertisement in the local press and advertise in schools and other education/council establishments around early December each year to advise parents of the relevant timescales to be followed in respect of enrolments.

Each individual school will advertise the exact date in January or February when enrolments will take place.

Parents of children who live outwith the catchment area of the school must make a placing request.

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My child is finishing primary school. Where does my child go now?

Most children will attend the designated secondary school for their home address once they have finished their primary school education.

Where a child attends a primary school as a result of a successful placing request, that child will not automatically transfer to the associated secondary school for that primary school unless they also live within the area designated by Falkirk Council to that secondary school. If they do not live within that designated area, a further placing request will have to be made. The primary school currently attended will be able to confirm the designated secondary school.

At the beginning of the P1 and S1 stage of a child's education a parent can choose whether to send their child to their catchment area denominational or non-denominational school regardless of their religion.

Any movement between denominational/non-denominational schools at year stages other than at the beginning of P1 and S1 will require a placing request and distance entitled transport will not be provided.

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Can I make a placing request for my child?

Parents of pupils who are of school age can make a placing request for their child.

Pupils who are over school age can make their own placing requests.

Parents of pupils who are currently excluded from school cannot make a placing request until the exclusion has been resolved.

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What happens to the placing request for my child?

Placing requests must be submitted to the Director of Education. This is done by completing a placing request application form.

Requests will be dealt with in order of the priorities listed A-D below.

1. Children identified as being in need of educational provision available at a particular school. This includes both children with Additional Support Needs and children who require to attend specific Falkirk Council education establishments to meet their additional support needs.
2. Children living within the catchment area.
3. Children living outwith the catchment area but within the Falkirk Council area.
4. Children living outwith the Falkirk Council area.

Where at any stage the application of the above priorities results in unresolved competition for places, those competing requests shall be decided by using the following criteria in the order shown:

1. In the case of denominational schools, children whose parents can show affiliation to the denomination in whose interests the school is managed by means of a baptismal certificate.
2. Multiple sets of siblings of the same age: twins, triplets, etc.
3. The number of siblings a child has at the specified school - the more siblings attending the specified school, the higher the priority.
4. The ages of the siblings a child has at the school - the nearer their youngest sibling is to their year group, the higher the priority.
5. Child attending the nursery class at the specified school.
6. Date and time of receipt of placing requests at Education Services, McLaren House, Polmont.
7. Where all the above criteria have been applied and there is still unresolved competition amongst placing requests, a ballot will take place.

Parents may wish to be aware that class capacities at certain stages of education are limited to 25, 30 or 33 pupils with certain exceptions. This may impact on a school's ability to accommodate placing requests.

My child has additional support needs, can I still apply for a placing request?

Yes

Within Falkirk Council there are both specialist provisions and integrated mainstream provisions available to which particular admissions criteria and procedures apply. Placement in these schools is normally carried out through an assessment process. This process will specify the type of provision considered best to meet the child's needs and will nominate a particular school.

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How does a placing request affect my child’s transport to school? 

A full outline of the Council's policies in relation to transportation issues is found in Education Services Transport Policy. Copies of these documents are available from Education Services, McLaren House, Marchmont Avenue, Polmont, FK2 ONZ.

Falkirk Council has a discretionary power rather than a duty to provide school transport for pupils attending schools as a direct result of a successful placing request. School transport is not normally provided in such circumstances.

Placing requests made in circumstances where Education Services are satisfied that a change of school is necessary to protect the emotional, physical or educational wellbeing of the child may be considered for transport costs at the discretion of the Director of Education Services.

In considering whether or not to provide transport, Falkirk Council will take safety issues into account.

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How do I make a placing request?

A placing request must be made in writing. To make a placing request, a parent must complete the placing request application form and return it to the Director of Education, Education Services, McLaren House, Marchmont Avenue, Polmont FK2 0NZ. The application form identifies all the relevant details that are required for assessing the priority of placing requests.

A placing request can be submitted at any stage of a child's education.

With regard to placing requests for Primary 1 and Secondary 1 stages, Education Services will place an advertisement in the local press and advertise in schools and other education/council establishments on the first Thursday in December each year to advise parents of the relevant timescales to be followed in respect of placing requests for places in P1 and S1 years. The ‘cut-off’ date for the submission of placing request application forms will be 15 March each year. 

A parent making a placing request for P1 and S1 prior to 15 March, will be notified of the outcome of their placing request in writing by 30 April. Parents making placing requests for P1 and S1 received after 15 March will be notified within two months of the date of their request. Requests for P1 and S1 received after 15 March will be considered after those submitted from the first Thursday in December to 15 March.

Education Services will then assess the placing requests made for each school within the Falkirk Council area. If there are more requests made for places at a school than there are places available, then Education Services will apply its prioritisation criteria.

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Can I choose which school my child will attend?

Parents are able to make a choice of the school their child attends:

1. Catchment area schools - non-denominational
   
   Within the Falkirk Council area, each school has a defined 'catchment area'. This is an area designated by Falkirk Council to each school. Most children living within that area will attend their designated primary and secondary school.
   
   Each secondary school's catchment area is made up from a number of associated primary schools. Most children will attend the designated secondary school for their home address once they have completed their primary school education.
   
2. Catchment area schools - denominational
   
   Similarly each denominational school's catchment area covers a number of associated non-denominational catchments.
   
   At the outset of the P1 and S1 stage of a child's education a parent can choose whether to send their child to their catchment area denominational or non-denominational school regardless of their religion.
   
   Any movement between denominational/non-denominational schools at year stages other than at the beginning of P1 and S1 will require a placing request and distance entitled transport will not normally be provided.
   
3. Parental choice
   
   Parents may request a school other than the designated school in the catchment area where the child is ordinarily resident.
   
   Falkirk Council's Education Services shall educate pupils within the Falkirk Council area in accordance with the wishes of their parents where the parents' wishes do not involve unreasonable public expenditure on behalf of the Education Services, and those wishes are compatible with the suitable instruction and training of pupils.
   
4. Additional support needs
   
   Falkirk Council has specialist provisions for educating children with additional support needs. There are specific admissions criteria for these provisions.

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How long do I have to wait to find out about my placing request?

Where a placing request is received by Education Services prior to 15 March in any year, relating to a request to start a school in the following August, then the Education Authority will provide parents with a written decision by 30 April.

In any other case, the Education Authority has a period of two months from the date of receipt of the request to provide parents with a written decision about the placing request.

If the Education Authority refuses to grant the request, reasons will be given in the written decision.

While it is Falkirk Council's policy to provide a written decision, the law states that if a parent has not received written notification of the Education Authority's decision by 30 April in the case of requests received on or before 15 March, or within two months of receipt in other cases, the request is deemed to have been refused.

For pupils currently attending school, and who wish to transfer to their chosen school at the beginning of the new session in August, a placing request can be submitted four months prior to the start of the new session in August. This allows two months for the decision to be made and two months for the place to be taken up. This allows a place to be held over the school summer holidays. 

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Can I appeal against the refusal of my placing request?

Under Section 28C(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 as amended, parents whose placing request has been refused are entitled to appeal the Education Services decision, in the first instance, to the Education Appeals Committee established under the terms of the Act.

This right of appeal only applies to placing requests made to primary and secondary schools. It does not, however, apply to any decision Education Services makes regarding requests to enrol a child in nursery provision.

A parent may request an informal meeting with an officer of Education Services at any time, either before or after a placing request is refused or is deemed to be refused. At this meeting the officer will explain the position of Education Services to the parent. This is entirely without prejudice to parents' statutory rights of appeal.

In the first instance an appeal should be made to the Director of Law and Administration Services, Municipal Buildings, Falkirk. The appeal should take the form of a letter stating that a placing request has been refused and that the parent wishes to appeal against the decision stating their grounds of appeal.

An appeal must be made within 28 days of receipt of the refusal, or, in the case of a deemed refusal, within 28 days of either 30 April for requests made during the normal round of placing requests, or the expiry of two months following the date of the request, as the case may be.

Only one appeal, in respect of any particular child, will be considered in any twelve month period, although more than one placing request can be made in that period.

Where an appeal has been submitted to the Education Appeals Committee or the Sheriff Court, available places at school will continue to be allocated based on the criteria for priority.

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What are additional support needs? 

In the Additional Support for Learning Act ‘additional support’ means:

1. in relation to a prescribed pre-school child, a child of school age or a young person receiving school education, provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children or, as the case may be, young persons of the same age in schools (other than special schools) under the management of the education authority for the area to which the child or young person belongs;
   
   or
    
2. in relation to a child under school age other than a prescribed pre-school child, such educational provision as is appropriate in the circumstances.

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