A family from a new housing development on the outskirts of Glasgow is pursuing a judicial review against East Renfrewshire Council after the local authority ruled they have no automatic entry to the school.
The case, which will be heard at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, affects the catchment area for St Ninian’s High School, in Giffnock.
Although part of the catchment is now in Glasgow following local government reorganisation in 1996, parents were given the continued right to attend St Ninian’s because the school was set up to serve the needs of Catholic families in the wider area.
However, East Renfrewshire insists the condition covers only specified older streets, rather than the area as a whole, leaving those in new developments with no automatic right to entry.
Robert Bowie, a father-of-two from Parklands Meadow, a new estate in the disputed area, is now challenging that interpretation. He wants his 11-year-old daughter, Blaire, to attend St Ninian’s after she leaves primary school this summer.
“I have always lived in this area and, as a former pupil of St Ninian’s myself, it is very important to me that Blaire is given the education we feel she has a right to,” he said.
A spokesman for East Renfrewshire Council said: “We will be defending our position vigorously.”
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