Dundee City Council recognises the importance for families of receiving information on requests for school places as early as possible to allow them to make the necessary arrangements for entry to school, transport, school uniform, induction/transition days and a number of other arrangements.
With schools being closed from March 20th, some of this decision making has been delayed and we would ask families to try to understand the difficult circumstances under which schools are currently operating. There are also a number of national decisions that will affect a range of details around sessions 2020/21 pupil intake, not least when and how schools might be reopening. We will ensure that families are kept as up to date as these arrangements evolve and decisions are made on when schools will reopen for pupils and staff.
We would ask families to be patient at this time and be aware that potential future national decisions made based on changes in the current pandemic may cause any local plans, particularly for transition and induction, to be altered accordingly. To assist with our planning we are working very closely with national education agencies on arrangements.
In the meantime, the information provided below may be of some assistance to families awaiting details of school enrolment information for next session.
Early Years
Nursery Admissions
Once nursery applications are processed, families will receive information as to where a place can be offered and what the transition arrangements will be for new children. It is likely that this information will be with parents by the end of May 2020.
ASN Placements at Frances Wright Nursery
Confirmation letters for children who are to be offered a place will be sent directly to parents/home address shortly and thereafter parents will be contacted by phone by Kathleen Calder, Head Teacher of Frances Wright Nursery.
Deferring Entry to Primary School for session 2020/21
Letters to parents have been sent out for discretionary deferrals. All automatic deferrals have been granted for January and February 2016 birth dates for those who made an application to defer their child`s entry to primary school.
Any parents who do not wish to take up their primary one placement should confirm this with the school support team via placingrequests@dundeecity.gov.uk
Primary
New start Primary 1s should have been registered already at local schools. Where parents have selected their catchment school and registered there, they will receive information directly from the local school that a place has been allocated and what the proposed induction arrangements will be for new pupils. It is likely that this information will be with parents by the end of May.
Where parents have made placing requests for a school that is not there catchment school, then we anticipate they will receive a letter confirming whether they have been granted a space in the requested school by no later than the end of May. Where the placing request has been refused then details of the appeals process will also be contained in the letter.
Secondary
Parents of all pupils transitioning to secondary received a letter in December indicating that a space had been reserved in their local catchment school and that if they wished to take this place up then nothing further was required. Parents of pupils moving to their local catchment school will receive transitional details directly from their local secondary school and it is likely that this will be by the end of May.
Where parents wished to select another school outwith their catchment area, they then were asked to make a placing request. Parents who have made placing requests will receive a letter confirming whether they have been granted a space in the requested school by no later than the end of May. Where the placing request has been refused then details of the appeals process will be contained in the letter.
We are awaiting national confirmation of any changes to the timescales and arrangements for education appeals for session 2020/21 but anticipate that this information will be available in time for us to include in the letters that will be sent out by the end of May in the placing request letters to parents.
Further, more specific details on transitional arrangements for pupils starting Nursery, Primary and Secondary as well as pupils with additional support needs will be made available on the council website shortly.
Additional Support Needs
Transition planning started last August for children and young people with Additional Support Needs who require enhanced support at either one of our mainstream schools or at Kingspark and most parents have already been informed of school placement for their child.
Any placing requests from parents of children with ASN who did not wish to take up the school placement offered to them will be dealt with in the same way as all other placing requests.
