Reserved Places in Schools 2026/27 and Maximising Capacities Update
Perth and Kinross Council · 16 March 2026
Back to Learning and Families Committee — 16 March 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Our vision is a Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequalities ___________________________________________________________________ Committee or Board: Learning and Families Committee Date of Meeting: 16 March 2026 Report Title: Reserved Places in Schools 2026/27 and Maximising Capacities Update Report Number: 26/66 Report Author: Karen Robertson, Service Manager (Business Services) (FBSCommittee@pkc.gov.uk) Organisational Lead: David Macluskey, Strategic Lead – Education and Learning ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to consider the number of reserved places for session 2026/27, within primary and secondary schools, in accordance with Section 28A of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, as amended. This allows places to be protected for local children to attend their catchment school. This report also informs Committee where primary class capacities have been maximised during school session 2025/26. 1.2 Sections 1. Purpose 2. Recommendations 3. Background/Main Issues 4. Operation of Criteria 5. Maximising Capacities 6. Impact Value Assessment 7. Appendices 2. Recommendations It is recommended that the Committee: 2.1 Approves the number of reserved places within schools which have classes with a limited number of spaces at specific stages, for session 2026/27, as shown in Appendix 1.
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2.2 Requests the Strategic Lead – Education and Learning to revise these numbers each year to reflect historical or anticipated patterns of migration, information about known movements of families in to (or out of) an area, and any current residential developments. 2.3 Delegates responsibility to the Strategic Lead – Education and Learning to keep under review, the reserved places for all schools, in light of any building work in schools and considering residential developments. 2.4 Notes the primary schools where class capacities have been maximised during session 2025/26. 3. Background/Main Issues 3.1 Reserved places refer to the number of places which, in the opinion of the Education Authority, are reasonably required to accommodate pupils likely to become resident within the catchment area of a school during the period of considering placing requests and during that school year. 3.2 This allows the Education Authority to calculate and retain a certain number of places for children from families likely to move into the catchment area of schools which have classes with a limited number of spaces in some or all stages. The legislation allows the Education Authority to refuse some or all placing requests made for a particular school on the grounds that children from within the catchment area may become resident during the year. The purpose of Reserved Places in Schools is to support Perth and Kinross Council’s School Admission Policy. 3.3 Places are reserved to try to accommodate these children, where possible, in their catchment school. This allows the Education Authority to take positive steps to protect places in schools for catchment pupils and avoiding having to zone pupils to another school which has space, which may incur home to school transport costs for the Council. 3.4 Historic Information/Context 3.4.1 The strategy for the implementation of reserved places within Perth and Kinross Council was approved by Committee in March 1997 for session 1997/98. Further annual reports to the then Lifelong Learning Committee and, thereafter, Learning and Families Committee have been approved for each subsequent academic session. 3.4.2 The factors considered in determining whether reserved places are required, and the number of reserved places within schools for the current academic session are: Schools which have classes with a limited number of spaces at specific stages;
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Historical or anticipated patterns of migration, information about known movements of families in to (or out of) an area and any current residential development in the area; and The possible pattern of movement indicated by the current academic session’s trends and roll projections for 2026/27. 3.4.3 The scheme needs to be justifiable and operated fairly, particularly as parents can appeal to the relevant Education Appeal Committee and thereafter to the Sheriff Court. 3.5 Options Available to Elected Members 3.5.1 Failure to establish an appropriate number of reserved places in schools which require them, increases the likelihood of families moving into catchment areas during the school session and not being able to enrol their children in their local catchment school. This can result in families being forced to have their children attend schools outwith the communities in which they live and can incur additional home to school transport costs for the Council. In light of this, having no reserved places, or places set at an incorrect level, is not appropriate. 3.6 Conclusion/Rationale for Recommendations made in Section 2 3.6.1 The reserved places procedure allows children moving into a catchment area of a school a greater likelihood of attending that school. Reliable historical and anticipated patterns have been established, as accurate information is collected. 3.6.2 The annual revision of the reserved places in schools supports pupil intakes being stringently managed for each school ensuring, where possible, that local children can attend their catchment school. 3.6.3 It is proposed that the reserved places required for session 2026/27 are accepted as outlined in Appendix 1. The Strategic Lead – Education and Learning will publish the Reserved Places in Schools 2026/27 report and implement this in full for session 2026/27. 3.6.4 In order to provide accurate and clear information, the Council publishes the required reserved places on its website. The published information shows the reserved places at each individual stage for each school. This format allows parents/carers to clearly understand how many reserved places are being held at each/any stage in the school each academic session. 4. Operation of Criteria 4.1 The operation of the criteria for session 2025/26, to date, has ensured that there have been no new primary pupils who have moved into an area and been unable to attend their non-denominational catchment primary school as their first choice of school.
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There is one primary pupil who was ‘zoned out’ last year, and who continues to be ‘zoned out’, which is now by parental choice, as a space is available in their catchment school. A pupil is ‘zoned out’ where they are unable to be accommodated in their catchment school, and the local authority is then required to place the pupil in the next nearest school which has space for them. In respect of secondary schools, no secondary school pupil has moved into an area and has been unable to be granted a place in their catchment non-denominational secondary school. 4.2 The application of reserved places is most commonly utilised during the process for managing the new P1 and S1 intakes each year where parents may choose to have their child attend a school other than their catchment school. For academic session 2025/26, 294 placing requests were made for P1 places in primary schools and 210 of these requests were granted and 84 were refused. 26 of the 84 refusals related to children who live outwith Perth and Kinross. This represents a positive outcome for 71.43% of P1 parents who made a placing request for their child to attend the primary school of their choice outwith their catchment area. 4.3 Overall, 93.5% of the P1 intake for August 2025 were granted a place in their first choice school that they asked for within the annual placing period. 4.4 In respect of S1 places, 124 placing requests were submitted and 120 of these requests were granted and 4 were refused. 2 of the 4 refusals related to children who live outwith Perth and Kinross. This represents a positive outcome for 96.8% of parents who made a placing request for their child to attend the secondary school of their choice outwith their catchment area. 4.5 Overall, 99.7% of the S1 intake for August 2025 were granted a place in the first choice school that they asked for within the annual placing period. 4.6 Where a placing request is refused, parents have a statutory right of appeal to the Education Appeal Committee, and thereafter, the Sheriff Court. For session 2025/26, 28 appeals have been considered to date by the Education Appeal Committee, and no appeals were considered by the Sheriff Court. 4.7 The historical pattern of migration and house building continues to be monitored to ensure as accurate information as possible is used when considering the annual requirement for reserved places. 4.8 For session 2026/27, there are some fluctuations in the reserved places from the previous school session. 4.9 There are a number of schools whose reserved places have been altered in light of experience in administering placements throughout session 2025/26.
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In addition, where additional building work has been undertaken in schools or reconfiguration of class structures, this can lead to the reduction in the requirement for reserved places. Reserved places may be increased where residential building has taken place or is planned within school catchment areas. Reserved places may have also been altered where school rolls have increased or decreased. 4.10 The total number of reserved places proposed for 2026/27 has been decreased slightly to reflect the factors outlined in section 4.9 of this report. Reserved places fluctuate on an annual basis and the total number of reserved places each year has varied between 92 and 958 since their introduction in 1997. 5. Maximising Capacities 5.1 On 16 May 2018, the then Lifelong Learning Committee approved the report Maximising Primary School Capacities (Report No. 18/158 refers). The report gave approval for the then Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) to apply the Scottish Government space capacity metric of 1.7m2 per pupil for primary schools, if required, to accommodate children living in the catchment area. 5.2 This provides an additional mechanism to manage the accommodation available in primary schools where there are challenges in accommodating catchment pupils in smaller classrooms which operate below the legal class size maximum. It also ensures that teaching staffing budgets are not exceeded while providing pupils with the best opportunity to attend their catchment school. 5.3 The report also agreed that Committee would be provided with an annual update on the use of this variation within primary schools. 5.4 During session 2025/26, the capacity of some primary school classrooms was temporarily maximised at the following primary schools to allow catchment pupils to be admitted: Pitlochry High School (Primary). St Dominic’s RC Primary School. 5.5 At the time of this report, it is too early to report whether it will be necessary to apply the space capacity metric of 1.7m2 to any classes for session 2026/27. The allocation of places for the new school session will be concluded by 30 April 2026 in line with the statutory timescales and will be reported to the Learning and Families Committee as part of the next annual Reserved Places in Schools report.
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6. Impact and Value Assessment 6.1 This report has been classified as being an operational report and as such does not require a further full Impact and Value Assessment. 7. Appendix Appendix 1 – Reserved Places 2026/2027