Rise in relatives rejecting internal schools

Charlene Sweeney & , : {}

Increasing numbers of parents, unhappy about their childrens education, are turning to schools outside their catchment area. New figures show that the number of parents seeking a wider choice of school increased last year for the first time in almost a decade.

Local authorities received 29,892 placing requests in 2008-09, compared with 28,498 the previous year, a rise of almost 5 per cent. The number of requests granted also rose, increasing to 83.8 per cent last year from 82.3 per cent in 2007-08.

The growth suggests that parents are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the local school they are being offered, and are looking further afield for alternatives. Statistics published last year indicated that the gap between the best performing and the worst performing councils is widening. It also follows a series of high-profile court cases in which parents successfully took councils to court to get their children into a school outside their catchment area.

The Scottish government is now consulting on regulations that will set a legal cap of 25 pupils in primary 1 classes, instead of 30, in an attempt to protect schools from being forced to accept requests.

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East Renfrewshire Council, which has some of the best exam results in Scotland, experienced the fiercest competition for school places last year. A third of all its applications for primary school places were from families who lived outside its catchment area, as were nearly 35 per cent of applications to attend its secondary schools.

Its popularity led to disappointment for many, though. Almost half 44 per cent of all secondary school requests were refused, while nearly a third of primary school requests were also turned down.

Parents have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure their children are enrolled at East Renfrewshire schools. Two years ago the council threatened legal action after discovering 20 bogus applications, including families renting accommodation in the catchment area and pretending to live there. Last year the number caught attempting falsely to obtain places for their children fell to 12.

The two main reasons cited by local authorities for being unable to comply with placing requests were staffing constraints and limited space in schools. In January The Times reported the case of Robert Bowie, who took East Renfrewshire Council to court for refusing his daughter the right to attend St Ninians High School, just outside Glasgow.

Lord Uist ruled in Mr Bowie"s favour and criticised the local authority for its far-fetched definition of the catchment area. His decision paved the way for scores of other families to challenge the councils rules.

Yesterday, a spokesman for East Renfrewshire Council said: We are aware that a great many people do want to get into our schools and we carefully assess every case but unfortunately, due to pressure on places, it is becoming increasingly difficult to grant a large number of requests.

The spokesman said that the system was still working, but suggested it was time to fine-tune the legislation that enables placing requests.

Opposition parties said last night that the rise in placing requests showed it was time for the Scottish government to take action.

Liz Smith, the schools spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: Maximising parental choice should be enshrined in school education in Scotland and these latest statistics prove that parents agree.

Ken Macintosh, Labours schools spokesman, criticised the Nationalists for delaying the new legal limit for class sizes. Parents and local authorities should not be forced to battle it out in the courts because of the SNPs failure to provide either the resources or the legal backing to implement their class size strategy, he said.

A Scottish government spokesman said: The vast majority of parents choose their local school. Parents can, however, express a preference for the school choice and todays statistics show most of these placing requests over 80 per cent are granted.