Record number of children miss out on preferred primary schools

RECORD numbers of parents are being refused places for their children at their first-choice primary schools, figures from one of the country’s largest councils have shown.

Edinburgh council said that 67 per cent of requests from parents to send their children to schools outwith their own catchment area had been rejected for the start of the next school year.

The figure is understood to be the highest rejection rate ever recorded by the council, and compares with just 37 per cent of requests being refused for 2011.

Local authorities across Scotland are struggling to meet demand. A rising birth rate has meant there is growing pressure on places at the most popular schools.

However, the situation has always been particularly acute in the capital, where a small number of schools receive large numbers of requests from those living outside their catchment area. In Edinburgh, this year’s primary-one intake will be 4,408 pupils, compared with 4,097 last year.

Of 903 out-of-catchment requests, 608 have been refused and just 295 granted, the council said.

The local authority said it had asked parents to consider the longer-term impact of the rising school population, meaning that even if placing requests were successful this year, they may not get younger siblings into the same school in future.

Gillian Tee, director of children and families at the city council, said: “Due to recent population trends, we anticipated a significant rise in the number of children going into primary-one this year.

“This means that although there are a number of spare places, there will be fewer for non-catchment children in some primary schools.

“We have excellent primary schools in Edinburgh and we have actively encouraged parents to visit their local primary schools before considering applying for places that are out of their catchment areas. At registration time, we continued to promote our ‘local schools for local children’ message.

“This message has been successfully delivered and there has been a decrease in the number of out-of-catchment requests received. We believe that this demonstrates parents’ confidence in the consistently high standards of education offered in all of Edinburgh’s primary schools.”

Meanwhile, some schools are struggling to find enough space for the primary school children that live within their catchment area, let alone those from outside it.

Tina Woolnough, of the National Parent Forum Scotland, said there were schools in the capital struggling to meet demand from those actually inside their catchment area.

She said: “Primary schools in certain areas of Edinburgh are chock-a-block.

“I’m not sure the council is going to fit the catchment children in. Some schools are bursting at the seams.

“That’s the reality, though, and parental expectations are going to have to change. People sometimes have views about certain schools which are historical and they should perhaps have a more open mind about their local primary.”