Choosing a school for your child

Every child has a right to a free place at school.

If you're a parent, you must make sure your child either goes to school or is taught at home.

Find a school

You don't decide which school your child is given a place at. It's your local council's choice.

You can request a place at another school, but whether this request is granted depends on whether there are free places.

How councils decide

Councils use 'catchment areas' to decide where your child is given a place at school.

A catchment area is an area around a single school. Any children who live in this area are given a place at the school.

Most Scottish councils publish catchment area maps on their website.

You can find out where your child will be given a place at school by looking on your local council's website:

If you want your child to go to your catchment area school

In the year before your child gets to primary or secondary school age, some councils send you a letter to confirm your child has a place at a local school. It should also ask you to confirm this place.

If you want your child to go to this school all you need to do is reply to confirm. If your child has a place at another school you should let your local council know.

Some councils might not send letters. In these councils you'll need to enrol your child at school.

If you're not sure what to do you should contact your local council to find out more:

If you want to choose another school

You have a right to request a place in a local council school outwith your catchment area.

If there's space at the school your request must be granted.

If there's no space the council doesn't need to grant your request. If this happens you'll either need to:

• find a school with free places
• send your child to the school in your catchment area
• look at options for fee-paying private schools that aren't run by your local council

You also have a right to appeal if your request isn't granted.

You can find out more about what schools are in your local area on the Parentzone Scotland website.

School ages

This table shows when children will usually start primary school, based on their birth dates:

Or for secondary school:

Deferring primary school

If your child is still 4 years old on the date they are due to start primary school, you can defer your child's entry to primary school by a year. You will be able to get an additional year of funded early learning and childcare for the deferred year.