Question reference: S4W-10649
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 29 October 2012
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Current status: Answered by Michael Russell on 7 November 2012
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for reclassifying a school as rural under the terms of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.
Answer
The Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification, on which the Rural School List is based, is updated every two years, and the most recent version was published in August 2012. Following the update of the Classification, the Rural Schools List is them amended to take account of the revisions. This review also takes place every two years with the next review planned for Spring 2013. As the classification of schools as rural is based on the population density of their postcode area, this classification may change over time as settlements expand or contract.
The Scottish Government is aware that some local authorities have indicated that current rural school list may include a small number of anomalies.
It is open to an education authority to raise a concern they might have about the post code allocation for a school with the Post Office and enquire whether the post code could be changed to that of an adjacent post code area.