| The Conservative group on the city council wants the education department to look again at the area that Harris Academy should cover in the west of the city. It also wants the department to see if the dividing line between Forthill and Barnhill primaries in the east should be changed.
Tory education spokesman Rod Wallace said, “In the west, my colleague Neil Powrie, the member for Riverside, has been inundated with complaints from parents who live close to Harris Academy but who have been refused places for their children at that school.
“These parents live in Dundee, live close to Harris, and have the expectation of being able to send their children to that school, but they are being refused places.
“One of the reasons for Harris being full is that it is taking children from other education authority areas.”
The last comment is a reference to the special arrangement by which pupils from Invergowrie Primary, just over the border in Perth and Kinross, are given equal priority for places at Harris because it would be too far for them to travel Perth High School.
In the east, the problem is with the huge increase in housebuilding in the Balgillo and Barnhill areas of Broughty Ferry.
Forthill Primary is undergoing a £4 million-plus extension to turn it from a two to a three-stream school to cope with the likely increase in demand.
Councillor Wallace said its neighbour, Barnhill, is also programmed for an extension, but that scheme has been stalled because of a change in attendance patterns in its area.
“A number of children in the Panmurefield area who should go to Barnhill are going to Grange, the Angus school in Monifieth, instead because it is a quicker and easier journey for them. Barnhill is losing out on pupils and we think this issue should be looked at.
“We also think there is a need to look at the Forthill catchment to ensure that the school can serve its area. It wouldn’t do if the extension there was opened and the school became filled up with pupils from other parts of Dundee who came in on the strength of placing requests.
“The boundary between Forthill and Barnhill is the line of Edzell Street, and maybe the council should look to see if that is the logical place for it to be in light of what is happening to the local schools and the need to give them sufficient capacities.”
Councillor Wallace said changing school catchments was a complicated issue, as alterations could have knock-on effects. |
