Placing requests

How we respond

As a result of COVID-19, we have changed how we respond to placing requests:

• Our response deadline for requests submitted before 15 March 2021 for the coming school year starting August 2021 has been extended from 30 April to 15 May 2021.

• For placing requests received after 15 March 2021, the deadline for Education and Families to send a response is changed from 3 months to 2 months.

Timescales for appeals

The regulations change the timescales for appeals:

• The previous deadline for holding any other type of placing request appeal received is changed from 3 months to 2 months. If a placing request appeal has not been heard 3 months after receipt, it will be deemed to be refused.
• For the 2020 placing request appeals, the appeal committee decision must have notified the appellant within 28 days otherwise the appeal was deemed to be refused and the decision of the education authority deemed to be upheld.  For the 2021 placing requests appeals, the deadline has now been changed and the appellant must be notified of the decision within 14 days.

We will advertise our arrangements for placing requests in December each year.

There are good educational reasons for trying to ensure that the transfer or admission of a school takes place at the start of a school session. Other than those who are moving home to a new area, parents are advised to time any placing requests so that they take effect from the beginning of the new school session.

Every effort will be made to try and meet parental wishes, but it is not always possible to grant every placing request to a particular school.

Once a pupil has reached the school leaving age the pupil, not the pupil's parents, may choose which school to attend. If the pupil wants to change schools, they should complete a placing request application form.