PARENTS denied a place at Glasgow's new Gaelic school say the entry requirements are unsuitable.

Applications for spaces at the Gaelic Medium Primary School, in Pollokshields, are up 40% on last year.

Glasgow City Council did not predict such a sharp increase in interest and so around 20 families have been left disappointed.

Although the school completely immerses children in the Gaelic language, entrance to the facility is treated in exactly the same way as any other primary.

But parents insist applications for Gaelic Medium Education (GME) should be treated as exceptional and parents have to show their prior commitment to the language.

They say this might mean sending a child to Gaelic nursery, learning the language themselves or coming from a Gaelic-speaking family.

Helen Mackinnon is mum to Finn Ingram, four, and says her son's first language is Gaelic.

Her family lives 1.3 miles from the Gaelic Medium Primary School, on the Glendale Campus, but has been declined a place..

Helen, 38, said: "I speak Gaelic at home all the time so it is Finn's first language.

"We enrolled Finn in November for school then in January had a letter asking for further information, which we filled in, and then we received a letter to say he doesn't have a place.

"This school is being classed as any other school by Glasgow City Council, it's being treated as mainstream when it is not and those closest to the school are being given places.

"This way of placing children means the school is essentially just a mainstream primary and it seems strange to me that in a one mile radius there would be 30 Gaelic speaking children looking to enrol at that school."

Dad Stephen Culbertson is in the same position with his daughter Eilidh.

He said: "There are nearly 50 kids trying to get into a school that is accepting 30.

"I am from Skye and I am a Gaelic speaker and from a Gaelic speaking family.

"A lot of parents are unhappy, myself included. Because of my background, I expected to be able to support Eilidh through Gaelic Medium Education, which other parents will not be able to do for their children."

Glasgow City Council was the first in lowland Scotland to create a Gaelic Plan for the city.

This year there are 120 spaces available across the two P1 intakes: 90 at Glasgow Gaelic School on Berkeley Street and 30 at the Gaelic Medium Primary School.

The council has increased space by 20 places to take into account the large registration.

Due to Scottish Government legislation the entrance to the school must be treated as any other primary school so placing requests are distributed in order of need, such as a single parent or parent's workplace.

Dr Alasdair Allan, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages, said: "First, I would like to commend Glasgow City Council for its Gaelic medium provision and for the ways in which it has supported and developed Gaelic education in the city.

"We are aware that Glasgow has worked hard to accommodate the parents who have requested GME for their children. We understand there has been some disappointment for some parents as a result of the recent announcement.

"I also understand that Glasgow City Council will remain in close contact parents.

"For my part I would be happy to meet with the Director of Education at Glasgow, GME parent representatives and Bòrd na Gàidhlig.

"If there are any practical steps that can be taken both with the immediate situation and in the future we will give these serious consideration in discussion."

Parents of children at Gaelic nurseries have also set up a petition - https://www.change.org/p/malcolm-cunning-prioritise-children-in-gaelic-medium-nursery-for-enrolment-at-ggs-and-ggps - to urge the priority for children who have attended Gaelic nursery.

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: "We have received unprecedented demand for GME across the city this year.

"Letters have been sent to parents in the catchment for both schools in the north and south of the city.

"Unfortunately we have had to disappoint some families who have registered for Gaelic Medium education due to the oversubscription following the P1 registration in November and January."

Helen added: "Finn was very excited to be going to the Gaelic primary school as we've been telling him all through nursery that that would be where he was going next - he never expected anything else.

"It is a massive disappointment for all of us.

"I really don't want Finn to go to an English-speaking school. I want him to learn to read and write in what is his first language and as a working mother it would be hard to find the time to teach him to read and write in Gaelic myself.

"If he doesn't get that opportunity then his Gaelic will be lost. He'll only get to speak to some of my friends and my parents and that will be it.

"I would like it to be a bigger part of his life than that."