Placing Requests

Some parents may wish to make a request to place their child in another school. Such a request is referred to as a Placing Request. It is essential however those parents must also register their child for Education in their local catchment primary school initially and before submitting their Placing Request form. 

Please note you are not required to submit a paper version of the application if you have applied online.

How do I make a Placing Request?

To make a placing request, you are required to submit a placing request application form. The easiest way to do this is to use the online Placing Request application form.

Please note you will need to set up a myaccount to allow you to submit an online Placing Request application. 

Please also refer to  Glasgow City Council Placing Request and Local School Full Guidance [302kb] for further details.

You must submit a separate Placing Request application for each child.  If you wish to apply for more than one school you must indicate your priority choice of schools on the form. Glasgow City Council will make a decision on your first choice of school.   Only after a decision to refuse the placing request on the first choice has been made will other establishments then be considered.  If the priority choice is granted the remaining choice of schools are automatically withdrawn.

After you have submitted your Placing Request you will receive an automated response email confirming receipt of your application. If you do not receive that response please contact us to ensure that the application has been received.

Please note that documentary evidence is required to be submitted at the time of your application and can be uploaded online. If you do not supply this evidence, then the next applicable criteria on the form will be used to prioritise the spaces available. Copies of documentary evidence can be posted to the address below or scanned and emailed to the aforementioned email address clearly identifying the school that you are making the application to and also stating your child's name.

If you choose not to submit an online Placing Request, download the Placing Request Postal Application Form.

Postal applications can also be requested by contacting the CBS Hub on 0141 287 8000

Your completed application form should then be posted along with any relevant documentary evidence to:

Customer Business Services
City Chambers East
40 John Street
Glasgow
G1 1JL

Placing Request forms should not be handed in to your local school office. 

Parents/Carers are responsible for ensuring application forms are posted to the CBS Hub as detailed above.

An acknowledgement letter will be posted within 5 working days. If you do not receive acknowledgment, please contact the CBS hub to ensure that the application has been received.

To what schools can I make a Placing Request?

• Any Mainstream School managed by Glasgow City Council;
• Any Additional Support for Learning School or Unit managed by Glasgow City Council; and
• An Independent Special School
• If however, you are resident out-with Glasgow City Council you can only make a request for a school managed by Glasgow City Council.

When should I apply for my Placing Request?

If you want your child to start at the beginning of the next school year in August you should apply in the previous November.  If you apply before 15 March that year you will receive a response by 30 April.

If you want your child to change schools in the middle of a school year or you make your request after 15 March, the council has two months to decide (this includes summer-holiday time).  You may get an answer sooner.

Following registration at a local catchment school, families can make a Placing Request Application to attend any other school of their choice out-with the catchment area for their home address.

For those Placing Requests granted, it should be noted, there is no guarantee that future Placing Requests made for younger siblings for the same school will be successful. This may mean that any younger children would attend a different school to their older sibling.

What happens after I have made a placing request / when will I received a decision?

All placing requests will be acknowledged within five working days.

If your request is for your child to commence at P1 or S1 by the next August then the request must be made no later than 15 March of the year in which you wish your child to attend.

If the request was made before the 15 March for P1/S1 then by 30 April you will receive a decision letter from the Council either agreeing to the placing request or declining the request and giving statutory grounds for this refusal and information on how you can appeal this decision.

If you make a placing request during the school year for a school managed by this Council or an independent special school, you must receive a decision within 8 weeks of your application being received.

"In-term" requests submitted can take up to 8 weeks to process, but would normally expect confirmation of decision will be sent to parents within a 2 week period.

What if my child has Additional Support Needs?

If you are resident in Glasgow you should provide as much information on the application form as possible and tick the appropriate boxes on the form that make reference to additional support needs.

Parents should understand that the additional support need must require the provision of support only provided within the school requested. Further guidance is included below which has been taken from the Statutory Guidance published in 2017.

What is meant by additional support?

All children and young people need support to help them learn. The main sources of support in pre-school provision and schools are the staff who, through their normal practice, are able to meet a diverse range of needs. All children and young people are entitled to support to enable them to review their learning and plan for next steps, gain access to learning activities which will meet their needs, plan for opportunities for personal achievement and prepare for changes and choices and be supported through changes and choices. With good quality learning and teaching and an appropriate curriculum, most children and young people are able to benefit appropriately from school education without the need for additional support.

The definition of additional support provided in the Act is a wide, inclusive one and it is not possible to provide an exhaustive list of all possible forms of additional support. Additional support falls into three overlapping, broad headings: approaches to learning and teaching, support from personnel, and provision of resources.

The Statutory Guidance provides some examples which parents may find useful.

If you want to make a Placing Request to a special school or enhanced provision within a mainstream school you can find out more information on the Meeting Additional Support Needs page.

Placing Request Criteria

Where there are more placing request applications made than places available, the criteria set by Glasgow City Council will be applied when allocating places, in the following rank order

1. Children residing within Glasgow City Council area who have additional support needs and require the provision of support provided only within the school requested. Supporting documentation evidencing the reasons for the request, signed by an appropriately qualified person with a proven expertise in the particular matter which has led to the additional support need will be required. The Head of Service with responsibility for inclusion will assess and decide on all applications seeking to receive priority under this criteria.
    
2. In relation only to denominational schools, those children whose parents can demonstrate an affinity with the religious ethos of the school (for example, a baptismal certificate from the Roman Catholic Church or a supporting letter). All applications seeking to receive recognition under this category should be supported by documentary evidence as outlined above.
    
3. Children who will have siblings at the school during the next academic year. Priority will be given to children who have a sibling in the year group closest to P1 or S1.
    
4. Children who face on-going family circumstances, requiring support that only placement in the requested school is likely to address. Supporting documentation evidencing the reasons for the request will be required. The Head of Service with responsibility for inclusion will assess and decide on all applications seeking to receive priority under this criteria. 
   
   Please note this does not include child care, travel arrangements to school or parental work related issues.  To meet family circumstances criteria this requires to be a significant matter which will be an issue for the length of the academic school session or beyond.  An example of family circumstances:-
   
   Joint Parental Court Order in place showing child resident at different address during the week when attending school and closer to requested school.
    
5. Children living in the catchment area of the requested school whose parents are required to make a placing request because the children are not attending a school of the same denomination as the requested school.
    
6. Children ranked by distance between home and school by a suitable walking route (This criteria will be used when all of the above have been exhausted). Those living closest to school ranking highest.

The criteria will be applied in the order shown above.

If, for any category, the number of requests exceeds the number of places available the next succeeding criteria will be used to prioritise those requests, and so on, until all priority criteria have been exhausted.

Please note where there are too many applications from catchment children for their local primary or secondary schools, then the above placing request criteria, numbers 1 to 5 will be applied in order to decide on those children to be offered places.

If, after this process, two or more requests cannot be distinguished as having priority, then a ballot will be held to allocate the places available. This ballot will be organised by a senior officer of Education Services.

Note that the final criteria of distance will only be used to determine the allocation of placing requests. A ballot will be used in cases of over-subscription where all the children being considered live within the catchment area

All requests, along with supporting evidence, will be considered by Glasgow City Council. It is therefore very important that parents provide all relevant information in support of their request. All supporting evidence will be checked for accuracy. Only the above criteria will be used.

What happens if my application is refused?

If a placing request is refused the parent must ensure child takes up their place in the already confirmed school.

If a placing request is refused the following are the choices are available to the parent:

• submit a placing request for another school;
• submit another placing request for the same school at a later date;
• lodge an appeal against the refusal of the placing request

Please note 

• If a placing request is refused the application is not held on a waiting list
• School waiting lists are only held for catchment children

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