Placing Request Appeals

PLACING REQUEST APPPEALS INFORMATION FOR PARENTS - COVID 19

Due to the current situation with Coronavirus again this year, the Scottish Government has made some changes to the way Placing Request Appeals can be heard.   Please refer to the undernoted "parental guidance from the Scottish Government" for 2022.

If you do choose to appeal after reading this advice, Committee Services will inform you of the appeals process.

Although you can appeal in writing, the facility to appeal by email to servicesc@ced.glasgow.gov.uk is still available and would help Committee Services to process appeals more efficiently. Where an e-mail address is provided acknowledgement will be by e-mail.

Please provide the following with your appeal:-

• Your name and address
• The name of your child for whom the appeal is being made
• The name and address of the school of your choice
• The date of the letter of refusal from Education Services
• A statement indicating why you wish to appeal against this decision.

Please note, where an e-mail address is provided your acknowledgement will be sent by e-mail.

Published Parental Guidance from the Scottish Government for 2022  -  https://www.gov.scot/publications/choosing-school-guide-parents-nov-16/pages/4/
 

School Placing Requests and Appeals in 2022

The easing of COVID-19 related restrictions and positive impact of the vaccine programme means that the extended deadlines for local authorities that were in place in 2020 and 2021 for the school admissions and appeals process have been removed.   These gave local authorities and appeal committees longer periods for key steps in the process, but these extensions have now been reversed returning to the shorter deadlines that applied previously.

The flexibility to hold appeal hearings by video or telephone conference or in writing, if all parties agree, as well as in-person, continues to apply.

Where an appeal committee proposes to hold a hearing by telephone or video conference, it should ensure that each participant has access to video or telephone facilities allowing them to engage in the hearing at all times and present their cases fully, and that the appeal can be heard fairly and transparently.

Parents have the right to be represented at a hearing, whether it is conducted in-person or remotely, and the appellant may be accompanied by up to three others (including any person representing the appellant).

School placing requests in 2022

If you made a placing request by the 15 March 2022 deadline, your local authority must provide a decision in writing by 30 April 2022.

In many cases, you will receive a response sooner than this.

If you do not receive a decision in writing from your local authority by 30 April 2022, it will be deemed that they have refused your request and you will have the right to appeal to an education appeal committee.

If your request was made later than the 15 March 2022 deadline, local authorities have two months to provide a decision in writing. If you do not receive a response within two months, it will be deemed that the local authority has refused your request and you will have the right to appeal.

If your request was made later than the 15 March 2021 deadline, local authorities have two months to provide a decision in writing. If you do not receive a response within two months, it will be deemed that the local authority has refused your request and you will have the right to appeal.

Appeals process in 2022

You have 28 days from the date you received a decision (placing request) from the local authority to submit an appeal. This deadline for submitting an appeal also applies in cases where the local authority is deemed to have refused your placing request.

An appeal committee has 5 days to acknowledge your appeal request. An appeal committee will usually be expected to hold an appeal hearing within 28 days of receipt of the appeal.  If your appeal is combined with other appeals to the same school the 28 days will run from the date of the last appeal was received.

If the Committee is unable to hear your case within 28 days due to circumstances beyond its control it will have up to two months to hold the appeal hearing.  If the appeal committee does not hold a hearing on your appeal within 2 months, you will be able to appeal to the Sheriff Court.

You must be given 14 days' notice of the hearing date unless you agree to less notice.

Hearings can take place in person through video or telephone conference, or, if all involved agree to it, in writing.

The appeal committee has 14 days from the conclusion of the hearing to inform you of its decision and if you do not receive the decision within this time period, you will be entitled to appeal to the Sheriff Court.

When your request is turned down

When the Council is not able to give your child a place in the school you want, you are provided with the reason for this by letter.

The 'reason' is one or more of those explained below and allowed by law. There is an extract from both the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 included at the end of this guidance. However, the following is a summary of the legal reasons of refusal.

The Council does not have to admit your child to the school of your choice if any of the following apply:-

• Pupil numbers in the school would exceed the capacity agreed for the school by the council.
  • If accepting the request would mean that there would be too many children for the size of the school.
     
• The authority would require to employ another teacher.
  • If accepting the placing request means the Council would have to employ an additional teacher. This is usually related to class size maximums.
     
• The accommodation at the school would need to be altered or significant money spent
  • If accepting the request means the Council would have to spend a lot of money on the school making alterations to accommodate more children
     
• At a later stage in the school another class would have to be created or another teacher employed.
  • If accepting the request would mean that the Council will have to employ an additional teacher at a future stageof your child's education. This is usually related to class size maximums.
     
• The child does not have the additional support needs requiring education or special facilities normally provided at a special school.
  • If the school you want has been provided especially for children with special needs, and the Council thinks that your child does not need the special equipment or specially trained staff they have provided in that school
     
• ​​​​Would be seriously detrimental to the continuity of the child's education
  • The Council can refuse if they think your child's education would suffer from moving school.  This is usually when staff from school/s and headquarters agree that it would significantly impact on your child's education.
     
• Likely to be detrimental to order and discipline in the school.
  • There may be reasons why the placement of your child would result in this reason for refusal; usually this relates to issues in the community that would then subsequently be brought into the school environment.
  • Please note it is not always the case that the Council refuse to provide a place on this basis because they think that your child has been badly behaved or disruptive.
     
• Likely to be seriously detrimental to the education and wellbeing of pupils attending the school.
  • The Council can refuse if they think that the impact of granting additional placing requests would remove or restrict access to facilities within the school; e.g. a Music Room.
  • The Council can refuse if they think for some reason the wellbeing of children attending the school will be affected
  • Please note it is not the case that the Council refuse to provide a place on this basis because they think that your child has been badly behaved or disruptive.
     
• The education normally provided at the specified school is not suited to the age, ability or aptitude of the child.
  • This might apply if you want your child to be admitted to a stage of education for which the child is not yet ready, or to a school which cannot meet your child's needs.
     
• Placing the child in this school would prevent the education authority from retaining reserved places for catchment children
  • If accepting the request would prevent the Council reserving a place at the school for a child likely to move into the catchment area of the school during school year
     
• The specified school is a single sex school (within the meaning of paragraph 1(2) of Part 1 of Schedule 11 to the Equality Act 2010)and the child is not of the sex admitted or taken (under that section) to be admitted to the school.
  • If you want your daughter to go to a boys' school or your son to go to a girls' school