Siblings of pupils attending Stirling schools, but who live outwith the area, could be given precedence over locally resident youngsters without brothers or sisters when making a placing request.
Stirling Council officials have advised that the current placing request policy is inconsistent with the Education (Scotland) Act regarding treatment of siblings from outwith the council area.
At last week’s committee meeting, officials said the council’s legal team had advised that if a sibling already attended the school being requested, the council couldn’t discriminate between residents of Stirling Council and those outwith.
They added: “It may mean that pupils’ rankings may change.
“We are merging the lists for children and young people who have siblings within Stirling and outwith Stirling - but only for the ones who have siblings - so children outwith Stirling with no siblings would still be on a separate list.”
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Asked by religious representative Colin O’Brien if the policy change would disadvantage children that live in Stirling, officers replied: “It may change their rank and put them further down the list if they don’t have a sibling.”
This and other amendments to the policy will be part of a formal consultation considering the criteria used to assess placing requests, covering both primary and secondary schools.
Officers told last Thursday’s children and young people committee: “The consultation would consider the criteria used to assess placing requests including ensuring the treatment of siblings from outwith the Stirling Council area is consistent with Scottish law, and consulting on the extension of the medical grounds criteria to include exceptional ASN (Additional Support Needs) requirements, such that the chosen school is the only school that could provide for the child.
“It would also clarify the treatment of applications received from March 15 and the position in relation to placing requests made from outwith Scotland.
“The introduction of a waiting list where it is not possible to approve all placing requests and the basis on which this waiting list would operate is also included as is the automatic withdrawing of allocated spaces at catchment schools for Stirling Council pupils where placing requests to other Stirling Council schools are granted.”
Under the current policy, if a placing request is refused the application is not held on a waiting list and parents/carers have the following options: confirm attendance at their catchment school; submit a placing request for another school or submit another placing request for the same school; or lodge an appeal against the refusal of a placing request.
Any further applications must be considered within eight weeks of receipt but this can lead to multiple placing request applications and refusals for the same child.
The officers added: “When a placing request is granted, the child’s enrolment at their catchment school is not withdrawn until the child takes up their place at the specified school. Operationally this causes difficulties in terms of managing pupil numbers where placing requests are withdrawn by parents/carers once the request has been granted.
“This issue could be resolved by automatically withdrawing allocated spaces at catchment schools within Stirling Council at the time placing requests were granted. Any parent/carer who wished to withdraw their placing request after the request had been granted would be required to submit a fresh catchment enrolment application.”
