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Craigmount I Forrester Catchment Area Review: Recommendations on Consultation Process F Executive of the Council * 1%May 2004

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Craigmount I Forrester Catchment Area Review: Recommendations on Consultation Process F Executive of the Council * 1%May 2004 Item no 7*3 + EDI BVRG H N Report no I ‘I 0/04-05 CSec THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL Cd% I Craigmou nt/F orreste r Catchment Area Review : Recommendations on Consultation Process City of Edinburgh Council 24June2004 Purpose of report 1 To consider the decision of the Executive of 18 May 2004 on the CraigmounVForrester catchment area review. Main report 2 At its meeting on 18 May 2004 the Executive considered the attached report by the Director of Education advising of the outcome of the statutory consultation on the catchment review proposals within the Craigmount and Forrester catchment areas. 3 Councillor Rev Ewan Aitken, seconded by Councillor Anderson moved that: (a) Option 1 as identified in the Consultation Paper be recommended to the First Minister for approval. (b) the changes be implemented prior to the August 2007108 Start of Session, subject to the approval of the First Minister. (c) siblings of pupils from Gylemuir who currently attend Craigmount High School be given priority over other siblings of pupils who do not reside in the Gylemuir catchment area when making a placing request to Craigmount. This arrangement to operate for 6 years from the date the changes are implemented. 4 Councillor Dawe, seconded by Councillor Lowrie, moved as an amendment, that the Director of Education report to the next Education Executive on delaying the change to single feeder status for Gylemuir Primary School for a further period beyond the two years’ delay suggested. 5 On a division, the motion by Councillor Rev Ewan Aitken was approved by 13 votes to 2. 6 The Executive’s decision has been called in to the Council in terms of Standing Order 58. The lead signatory is Councillor Whyte. Recommendations 7 That the Council consider the Executive’s decision as detailed in para 3,above. JoK n turt Appendices Report no E1633103-04IED by the Director of Education Contactltel C Riley 529 4830 Wards affected See attached report Background Minute of the Executive of 18 May 2004 Papers + 6DINBVRGH + THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL Craigmount I Forrester Catchment Area Review: Recommendations on Consultation Process f Executive of the Council * 1%May 2004 1 Purpose of report 1.I Reference is made to Report E1388103-041E presented to the Executive on 13 January 2004 which outlined catchment review proposals within. the Craigmount and Forrester catchment areas. The Executive approved that public consultation on those proposals be undertaken from 27 January 2004. The purpose of this report is to advise the Executive of the outcome of the statutory consultation and recommend how to proceed. 2 Consultation Arrangements 2.1 The consultation was carried out in terms of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, as amended 1981, and the Regulations made thereunder. The Regulations require a consultation period of not less than 28 days, and if chosen to be held, public meeting(s) are to be held not less than 14 days after the commencement of the consultation period. The consultation paper was distributed and the proposals advertised on 26 January 2004, with the consultation period deemed to have commenced on 27 January, and continued until 3 March 2004. Public meetings were held in Craigmount and Forrester High Schools and Gylemuir and Roseburn Primary Schools between 9 February and 12 February 2004. The records of the meetings are attached to this report at Appendix 1. 2.2 Correspondence (in the form of letters and emails) was received from 292 members of the public. Of this number 62% were in support of the proposals, 31% objected to a Gylemuir re-alignment, 1% were explicitly in favour of Option 2, 1% were Gylemuir residents voicing support for Forrester HS and the remaining 5% were various other requests and issues. A summary of all letters and emails received is attached in Appendix 2. Timing of ImDlementation 2.3 In response to the vast amount of correspondence received during the consultation requesting the implementation of changes be delayed, the Council has given this careful consideration (see section 4.7). Consideration has now been given to delaying the implementation of the proposals for two years - ie from August 2005 to August 2007. If the construction of the new 1 16 Forrester High School could be fast-tracked with the aim of completion by August 2007 (one year early), the implementation of the catchment changes would coincide with the opening of the new school. Gylemuir would feed solely to Forrester from August 2007 onwards. 2.4 This report addresses the main issues raised during the consultation process. Appendix 3 contains answers to additional individual questions raised during the consultation process (either in the form of a question asked at a public meeting or in a letter or email) which are not directly answered in this report. * i 3 Summary - Response to Consultation 3.1 Issues Raised The following issues, deemed relevant to this consultation, were raised during the consultation process either as a question asked at a public meeting or in a letter or email. These issues form the basis of this report. These are discussed in Section 4. PART 1: BACKGROUND 1. Human Rights 2. Right to Parental Choice 3. Dual Feeder Status 4. Populatidn Data and Forecasts 5. Scale of Review: Cluster by Cluster Basis vs. Simultaneous City Wide 6. Capacity of Craigmount High School 7. Timing of Review and Craigmount Catchment Numbers 8. Planning Issues PART 2: FEEDER PRIMARY SCHOOLS 9. Gylemuir and Roseburn Catchment Areas IO. Gylemuir Residents’ Suggested Alternative High Schools for Roseburn Primary School: Forrester, Tynecastle and Broughton High Schools 11. Gylemuir Residents’ Suggested Alternative High School for Hillwood r Primary School: Forrester, Queensferry, Currie and Balerno High Schools i 12. Gylemuir Residents’ Suggested Alternative High School for Corstorphine Primary School: Forrester High School 13. Publicly Suggested Partial Re-Alignments of Primary School Catchment Areas 3.2 ProPosed Recommendations Having taken the above viewpoints into consideration, the following recommendations are being made: That Option 1 be implemented. Of the 3 Options put forward, Option 1 is considered to be the best option that would relieve accommodation 2 17 pressures likely to be experienced by Craigmount High School whilst maintaining the overall aims of the catchment review. That changes be implemented in August 2007 - being two years later than originally proposed - so as to give parents more time to plan for the changes. This is in response to the vast amount of correspondence received concerning this and Council’s recent advice that an August 2007 completion date could be achievable for Forrester High School. That the siblings of pupils from Gylemuir who currently attend . Craigmount High School be given priority (over other siblings who do not reside in the Gylemuir catchment ’area) when making a placing request to Craigmount. This arrangement is to operate for 6 years from the date the changes are implemented. With the implementation of Option 1 it is expected that there would be sufficient places available at Craigmount to accommodate these siblings. 4 Main report - Issues Raised During Consultation This following section describes the main questionslissues raised during the consultation process received either as a question or statement made during one of the four public meetings or in a letter or email received during the consultation period. For consistency purposes, each main heading in this section has the issue raised in italics, an explanation in normal text and a conclusion at the end of it which is in bold. Answers to all other questionslissues raised during the consultation process are given in Appendix 3 of this report. PART 1 : BACKGROUND 4.1 Human Riqhts Throughout the consultation, concern was expressed by members of the public who considered that the proposals breach their Human Rights. 4 It is the view of the Council’s Legal Services Department that the Council is not breaching the Human Rights Act 1998 in its conduct in respect of carrying out the catchment review. Protocol 1, Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides that no person shall be denied the right to education. The review does not deny this right. Once a decision has been reached on the catchment review, there is no right of appeal or right to request an independent review of the process under the statutory instruments prescribed by the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. However, parents have a right of appeal on placing requests through the normal annual placing procedures. It is the Council’s view that no one is being denied the right to education as a result of the catchment review. 3 18 4.2 Ricrht to Parental Choice Throughout the consultation, concern was expressed by several parents who were of the view that the proposals remove parental choice’. Parents have a right to ‘parental choice’ which is enshrined in legislation. Under Section 28A of the Education (Scotland) Act 1981, parents have the right to express a preference for a particular school and it is the Council’s duty to accommodate this wherever possible. Parents will usually be offered a place in their catchment school, however, parents also have the right to make a request for a place in another out-of-catchment school. Once a parent has made an-application for a place in a non-catchrnent school, the Council must honour this request unless (among other things which are described in Appendix 4): To meet this request the Council would have to employ an additional teacher or incur additional expenditure, for example, on an additional classroom. The Council is statutorily obliged to provide an education and it chooses to endeavour to provide a place at a child’s catchment school.
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