Online system to be used for P1 and S1 enrolments in Fife schools

Last year Fife Council altered the administration process for those starting in primary one by introducing a new online process for families.

It was agreed yesterday (Thursday) at a meeting of the council’s policy and coordination committee that the change to the administrative procedure will remain in place for enrolments to primary schools, but from this year the same system will be used to enroll primary seven pupils moving up to high school.

The system is purely a change in procedure and there is no change to any school admissions policy.

David Alexander, convener of the committee, and Fife Council co-leader, said: “The vast majority of P1 parents used the online enrolment form last year.

"It’s common sense for us to roll-out the same quick and convenient solution for families looking at the move to secondary school.

"But of course we’ll provide paper forms if someone really needs that.”

David Ross, co-leader, added: “We’re always looking to improve the way we do things.

"This is a natural step and our education team will also use previous feedback from parents and schools to refine this year’s process.”

Councillors heard that in the first week of the online enrolment system being in place last year there had been “teething issues” but these were responded to and amended very quickly.

A report to the committee said feedback had been taken into account following last year’s process.

It also stated that the change to an online form will reduce the time taken for clerical and management staff in schools when implementing the process.

Shelagh McLean, head of service for education, told the committee: "Over 3700 of our parents applied for their places online, that’s the vast majority of our P1 enrolments.

"The team have developed the process for secondary and they will issue information to parents at the normal administration time, which is usually around about the start of December.”

Parents and carers need a mygov.scot account to use the enrolment and placing request system, but there’s no need for action to be taken until more information is issued in December.

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.

https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/nord/dm/FFP/V