City primaries hardest to get into from outside catchment

PARENTS wanting to send their children to primary schools outside their catchment area are less likely to get their request granted in Edinburgh than anywhere else in Scotland, new figures show.

The Scottish Government statistics show that last year Edinburgh had the lowest success rate in Scotland for placing pupils in out-of-catchment primary schools, with just 63 per cent getting their first choice schools.

Education bosses in the Capital granted 1,040 of the 1,648 requests, falling from a 69 per cent success rate the previous year and 73 per cent the year before that.

The figures also show that the city council had to deal with more requests for out-of-catchment places for new P1 pupils than any other local authority in Scotland.

However, the number of parents asking for this fell from 42.3 per cent the previous year to 36.4 per cent last year.

There were also placing requests for 25.6 per cent of S1 pupils, with 76.3 per cent of secondary school requests granted by education bosses.

Councillor Jeremy Balfour, education spokesman for the Conservatives, said: "The issue is that many people are now moving into the catchment areas of the best schools to guarantee places which means there are less places available for non-catchment children.

"We need to look at why some schools are better than others and try to replicate that across the city."

It is expected that next year's figures will record a rise in successful placing requests as education chiefs prepare to raise class sizes for pupils starting P1 in August from 25 to 30.

It comes after the Scottish Government failed to introduce a legal cap at 25 in time for this year's intake, which would leave education bosses vulnerable if parents appealed.

A spokesman for the city council said: "These figures tend to vary year on year, but it is clear that we attract more placing requests than any other authority.

"This can be put down to the fact that we live in a city where catchment areas are relatively small and schools are close together.

"This means more choice but also more pressure on some schools. We try to accommodate requests where possible, but there obviously need to be limits."

As the Evening News reported last week, pupil numbers are expected to increase by more than four per cent this year, putting pressure on at least half a dozen schools in the Capital, and education bosses have had to come up with options to ensure children receive a place at their local school. This includes the controversial proposal to swap Broomhouse Primary – which has seen a decline in pupils – with St Joseph's RC Primary, which has seen its school roll double.

Other primary schools which will face accommodation pressures are St Peter's, Tollcross, Preston Street, Victoria and St Mary's.