If your child is living in the West Dunbartonshire area, and will be 5 years of age between 1 March 2022 and 28 February 2023 they will be due to start school in August 2022 and must be registered at their catchment school. You can register your child for P1 classes starting in August 2022 on the form below.
Wherever you live, there will be two catchment schools – a denominational school, and a non-denominational school. You can only register your child at either the denominational or the non-denominational school in your catchment area. You can view the schools in your catchment area using our catchment area postcode search.
In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we are reducing parental contact with schools and this year we are not asking parents/carers to attend the catchment school to provide supporting proof of date of birth and home address.
If your child is currently in attendance at a West Dunbartonshire Council nursery, or in one of our partnership nurseries, the nursery will provide the catchment school with confirmation of your child’s date of birth and your home address. If your details change before August 2022 you must let the catchment school know.
If your child is attendance at a private nursery you should contact the local catchment school for details of when to attend to provide the documentary evidence required.
We make every effort to accommodate your child in your preferred school. Please note that living within a catchment area does not guarantee your child a place in that school. Where a place is not obtained your child’s name will be held on a waiting list.
Generally children attend their catchment school, however occasionally parents / carers may wish to make a formal request to place their child in another school. Such a request is referred to as a placing request. It is essential however that you still register your child for Primary 1 at one of their catchment primary schools however, you can apply for a placing request on the P1 registration form.
Your application, along with any relevant documentary evidence supporting your request should be made as early as possible and requests submitted before 15 March will be considered first and you will be notified of the outcome of your application by 30 April. If your request is received after 15 March this will be processed after all other applications have been received, and we will provide you with a response within 2 months of receiving the placing request. As requests received by 15 March will be considered first your late request may mean that there are no places available in the school you want and you should therefore submit your placing request as early as possible.
Please be aware that the granting of a placing request for one child / young person does not guarantee that any future placing requests made for a younger sibling for the same school will be automatically agreed. Where your application is successful for a P1 placing request into an alternative West Dunbartonshire primary school, the P1 place at your child’s catchment school will be automatically withdrawn. Further information on Placing Requests.
You should note that if you apply and are successful for a P1 placing request into an alternative school, the P1 place at your child’s catchment school will automatically be withdrawn.
When completing this form, it is very easy to make a mistake. This mistake can range from putting the wrong school, wrong date of birth or wrong personal details. If this happens, can you please email Education.PREnrolment@west-dunbarton.gov.uk in order for this to be amended. Please don’t resubmit a new form.
You can ask for early entry to school if your child’s fifth birthday is later than 28 February 2023. You can do this by completing the P1 Registration Form. If you are thinking of making an early entry request, please first consider your child's:
If after the assessment Educational Services decide to refuse your request, you will be advised accordingly and sent a copy of the assessment report on your child.
If your early entry request is refused, you cannot appeal this decision.
Children in Scotland start school when they are aged between four-and-a-half and five-and-a-half. When they are eligible to start school depends on when their fifth birthday is:
If your child is still age 4 on the day they would usually start primary 1, you’ve got the right to delay (or defer) when they start primary school. This means children can start school the following year, when they’re 5.
Choosing to defer when your child starts primary school is a big decision. If you want to delay the date your child starts primary school, you must still register your child at their local school and you should complete the P1 online registration form
In exceptional circumstances, a child may be granted an additional year at the pre-school stage as a result of identified additional support needs which have a bearing on their ability to benefit from school education.
A decision on delayed school entry will be made by the appropriate Service Manager on the basis of an assessment and recommendation from the West Dunbartonshire Psychological Service.
Please contact your child's nursery and they can advise you about deferring entry for your child.
All pupils will normally progress through school spending an academic year at each stage of schooling. In exceptional circumstances, where pupils have missed a significant portion of an academic year due to medical or other factors, and would benefit from remaining at the same stage in school for another year, consideration may also be given to such a request.
You may be entitled to school age grants including free school meals and clothing grant, Best Start Grant and the Scottish Child Payment.
Further details, including eligibility criteria, is available on the School and Education Grants Section.