Placing Request Appeals

PLACING REQUEST APPPEALS INFORMATION FOR PARENTS - COVID 19

Please  note that due to the current situation with COVID-19 the Council has taken the decision to cancel all meetings and Committees. This year the Scottish Government has extended the timescales for appeals as explained later in this advice. Given that the timescales being suggested by Government for restrictions are stretching into June it is unlikely that the Appeal Committee will hear appeals in June this year, the month appeals are usually heard.

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, due to the current restrictions in place in relation to contact an appeal by email to servicesc@ced.glasgow.gov.uk would help Committee Services to process appeals more efficiently. Please provide 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 and a statement indicating why you wish to appeal against this decision. Where an e-mail address is provided acknowledgement will be by e-mail.

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 stage of 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
   

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 your child's education would suffer from moving school. This is usually when staff from school/s and headquarters agree that it is not in your child's best interests.
   
• 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 (with meaning given to expression by the Section 26 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) 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

 Appeals Information for parents [315kb]