All children of school age should be enrolled at their catchment school. Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, parents (including foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are family and friends) have a statutory right to make a placing request for any school that is not their catchment school.
School placement fraud occurs when fraudulent or misleading information is provided when making the placement request, for example:
- Falsely claiming that you or your child reside at an address within a particular school catchment area.
- Purchasing a property located within a school catchment area and failing to reside within it. Thereafter falsely declaring on enrolment form that the child resides at the property.
- Falsely declaring on enrolment form that a child’s place of residence is with another family member, within the desired schools catchment area.
The above list is not exhaustive, but simply provides some examples of what constitutes school placement fraud.
Stirling Council has a rigorous enrolment process in place to support fairness for all children and enable all pupils to access their catchment school. Where school placement fraud is detected, Stirling Council will report the matter to Police Scotland and will consider whether to remove the pupil from the school the subject of the placing request.
Stirling Council is committed to detecting and preventing school placement fraud and to taking appropriate action when detected.
Phone: 01786 233910
Email: reportfraud@stirling.gov.uk
Form: Report Fraud