Did you know that this year 15% (at least- there could be more that we are currently unaware of!) of children living within the catchment for Crookfur Primary and elgible to attend this school have not been allocated a Primary 1 place? 

We are a group of parents within the local community who would like to bring to your attention the issue we are facing this year. We all live in the catchment for Crookfur Primary School, however, our children have been allocated Mearns Primary.  Whilst we do not dispute the quality of Mearns Primary as an educational establishment a placement here has practical, emotional, social and financial implications for our families and in particular for our children.

All our children have been attending Crookfur Nursery for the past two years and they have created valuable relationships and connections within the school, staff and other pupils. At no point over the last two years has anyone from the Council or the school indicated to us that P1 placement could be an issue, which would have allowed us to prepare ourselves and our families better.  For example - some of our children were on the waiting list for the previous two years to get an afterschool place for this year at Crookfur.  Other families had arranged childminders ( who are now also going to be out of pocket as they cannot accommodate Mearns Primary Pick-up).  We are now left scrabbling to find alternative arrangements which can be fitted round our work requirements.

Having to drive to school will also have impacts on the local environment and community.  There is already a high volume of cars on the roads around our schools, particularly at Mearns Primary, given its size.  Placing non- catchment children within this school will further add to the current congestion around the school and the school car park.

The other problem we are facing is that our younger children are not guaranteed a place at Mearns Nursery or Primary School in the future meaning that potentially we could be trying to get to two different schools at opposite ends of the locality for the same time.

This situation will not be limited to this year alone and, in fact, given the level of building in the area is only likely to get worse.  we would urge parents to sign the petition to show support in asking the council to find a suitable solution for increasing the capacity at Crookfur so that all children may attend their catchment school should they choose to!