Mum claims East Dunbartonshire’s system for placing requests is ‘flawed’

Pamela Wick had attempted to enrol her 12-year-old daughter to St Ninian’s High in Kirkintilloch, having previously attended St Machan’s Primary in Lennoxtown.

She had been preparing to transfer to this school, where she already had an older sister attending, when her place was refused.

Pamela says her appeal hearing lasted “approximately four minutes” and that the panel never asked a single question.

Pamela added: “They have put the refusal down to having to have an additional teacher. At no point is the fact that a young person’s life is being turned up side down mentioned.

“I now face having to send my daughter to a school in an area where she knows no one, no friends, at a school in an area where she is unfamiliar with and teachers she has never met.

“Our children’s education is supposed to be the Scottish Government priority and in this unsettling time of Covid, I fear for my daughter’s mental wellbeing.

Council depute chief executive Ann Davie responded: “The reputation of our schools in East Dunbartonshire means that we receive high numbers of placing requests every year.

“The council has a clear policy for allocating placing requests with clearly detailed priorities and a robust appeals process is in place to look at cases where placing requests are refused.

“Unfortunately, it is not possible to accept all placing requests and I understand the disappointment when they are refused, however, the council must apply its policies in a fair and consistent way across the board.

“We will provide advice and support to parents on the options available to them if a placing request is refused including supporting the child’s transition to their local school.”