Placing requests

You've the right to make a placing request for your child to be educated in a school other than your local catchment school.

You need to submit a placing request if:

• you wish your child to attend a school other than your local catchment school
• you don't live in South Ayrshire and want your child to attend a South Ayrshire school
• your child already attends a South Ayrshire school and you want them to transfer to another school within South Ayrshire

If you wish your child to move schools at the start of the new session in  August you should submit a placing request no later than 10 June, as any applications received after this date may not be considered until schools return at the beginning of the new session. Your child must return to their current school until you receive a decision on your placing request application.

The responsibility for decisions on placing request lies with Educational Services and not with individual schools.

Before you begin

• You need to fill out a separate application form for each child
• You can only apply for one school at a time
• You can apply for a place in the current session at any time
• Inform the head teacher of the school that your child attends of your intention to make a placing request
• If your placing request is granted, any place your child currently holds in a South Ayrshire school is released and may be allocated to another child immediately

Apply

  Apply online

Processing your application

We'll receive your application immediately and you will be notified by email. You can track your case via the link in the email.

When a placing request is received during a child or young person's primary or secondary education Educational Services will contact the requested school and the current school for further information to allow them to consider the impact a move of school will have on the child/young person.

A number of factors will be considered when determining whether to accept or refuse a placing request:

• does the child/young person have Additional Support Needs and provision is being made for these in the current school?
• does the child/young person have poor attendance which is being managed by the current school using our guidelines on managing pupil attendance and absence?
• has the child/young person previously attended more than one school as the result of a successful placing request?

Normally you will be advised of the outcome of your placing request no later than two months after submission. However, placing requests received after the 10 June for the new school session may not be considered until schools return in August.

If following a successful placing request you wish your child to return to their catchment school you will require to complete a new placing request.

We do not provide transport for those pupils who attend a school other than their catchment school as the result of a successful placing request.

Why placing requests are sometimes not granted

There are a number of reasons why our Educational Services may not grant a placing request. These are summarised below, where granting the request would:

• make it necessary for us to take additional teaching staff into employment
• give rise to significant expenditure in extending or altering the school's accommodation or facilities
• be seriously detrimental to the continuity of the child's education
• be likely to be seriously detrimental to order and discipline in the school
• be likely to be seriously detrimental to the educational well-being of pupils attending the school
• require the formation of an additional class or appointment of an additional teacher at a future stage of the child's education at primary school
• have the consequence that the capacity of the school would be exceeded in terms of pupil numbers
• mean that the education is not suited to the child
• mean we had already decided that the child should no longer attend the school
• in the case of special schools, mean the child does not have additional support needs requiring the education or facilities available
• prevent us from reserving places for pupils moving in to the catchment area
• in the case of mainstream schools, the education provided would not be suited to the child or would cause unreasonable expenditure

What to do if your placing request is not granted

You may lodge an appeal and your appeal will be heard by the independent Education Appeal Committee. The Committee will decide whether we have applied the priorities for granting placing requests for the particular school correctly. If you are not provided with a decision on your placing request within two months of making your placing request, you may also appeal. However, if you decide to appeal you will not be able to make another placing request until the appeal is heard or you withdraw your appeal.

Download further  information on how to appeal (Word doc) [174KB] .

information on how to appeal (Word doc) [45KB]