A legal loophole in placing request legislation has been identified which may have an impact on requests made this year for children who will be under five years of age when they start school. Parents who are concerned that this may affect their child should contact their education authority to find out about arrangements which have been made in their area. Top Information about schools All schools produce an annual handbook which gives information about the school, its organisation, what it teaches, its achievements, and its policies on discipline, school uniform, homework and special educational needs and a policy statement on developing pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural values. Education authorities also provide parents of Primary 7 pupils with comparative information about secondary schools in their area, which includes details of examination results, destinations of school leavers and attendance and absence levels. Parents who are interested in finding out more about particular schools should contact their education authority for further information.
Many schools also have websites.
Further information about these reports and about school inspections is given in the School Quality section of the Parent Zone. Some parents want their children to be educated in a denominational school and provision is therefore made for state denominational schools in Scotland. The majority of these schools are Roman Catholic. Denominational schools are run in the same way as other education authority schools, except that teachers appointed to denominational schools must be approved by the denominational body concerned. The law states that all state schools must be open to pupils of all denominations, and that parents can withdraw their children from any instruction in religious subjects and from any religious observance in any state school.