School placing requests

Full list of Grounds of Refusal of placing requests for a mainstream school

The statutory grounds of refusal are contained in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 as follows:-

1(a) If placing the child in the specified school would:

(i) Make it necessary for the authority to take an additional teacher into employment;

(ii) Give rise to significant expenditure on extending or otherwise altering the accommodation at or facilities provided in connection with the school;

(iii) Be seriously detrimental to the continuity of the child’s education;

(iv) Be likely to be seriously detrimental to order and discipline in the school; 

(v) Be likely to be seriously detrimental to the educational well-being of pupils attending the school;

(vi) assuming that pupil numbers remain constant, make it necessary, at the commencement of a future stage of the child’s primary education, for the authority to elect either to create  an additional class (or an additional composite class) in the specified school or to take an additional teacher into employment at that school;  

(vii) though neither of the tests set out in sub-paragraphs (i) and (ii) above is satisfied, have the consequence that the capacity of the school would be exceeded in terms of pupil numbers;

1(b) if the education normally provided at the specified school is not suited to the age, ability or aptitude of the child;

1(c) if the education authority have already required the child to discontinue his attendance at the specified school [that is the school requested];

1(d) if where the specified school is a special school, the child does not have additional support needs requiring the education or special facilities normally provided at that school; or

1(e) if 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.

2.  Reserved Spaces: where placing child in the specified school would prevent the education authority from retaining reserved places for catchment children at the school.