Placing request
A parent’s request for a place at a school outside their catchment area.
What it means
A placing request is a parent’s request for their child to attend a school other than the one their address is assigned to. In Scotland, parents have a legal right to make one, and a council may refuse only on grounds set out in law.
Placing requests apply to school places, in primary and secondary. Most are made for P1 and S1, but a parent can make one for any year. They do not apply to Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), where families state preferences instead.
Where a school has more requests than places, the council decides between them using its published criteria. A parent whose request is refused can appeal, so the council has to be able to show how each decision was reached.
Also called out-of-catchment request or non-catchment application.
How Admit handles it
Parents make a placing request online, as part of the same primary or secondary application. Admit scores requests on the council’s own criteria, and applies those criteria the same way to every application.
Each decision is recorded with the criteria behind it, so the council can explain it at appeal.
Applications and allocation
Your criteria, applied consistently: scored, matched to capacity and placed in one run.
Messaging and audit
Every message and every decision, on the record.
Catchment area
The area whose addresses are assigned to a given school.
Intake
The cohort of children admitted for one school session.
All glossary terms
Every term, with the names councils use for it.