PARENTS who want their children to attend one of Scotland's highest performing denominational state schools are to be asked to prove they are Catholic.
East Renfrewshire Council is considering the move to deal with overcrowding at St Ninian's Catholic High School, in Giffnock, on the outskirts of Glasgow.
St Ninian's regularly comes top of the school league tables and is a magnet for Catholic families as well as those of others faiths or no faith.
However, new housing developments and an increase in families moving to the area has meant the school is now oversubscribed with local children with the situation estimated to get worse.
As a result, the council is to consult on a proposal to give priority to baptised children where its Catholic schools become oversubscribed.
A council paper on the proposal states: "Inevitably there are only a limited number of places available in each school and only when a Roman Catholic school is oversubscribed by catchment pupils will priority be given to baptised Roman Catholic children.
"In such cases of oversubscription, a number of non-Roman Catholic children will be placed in their local non-denominational catchment school. Roman Catholic baptised children will be able to learn in their faith environment and there will still be opportunity for other children to receive a Roman Catholic faith based education.
"East Renfrewshire Council would be able to plan more effectively school provision, provide sufficient places for its resident population and prioritise places for baptised Roman Catholic children in Roman Catholic schools."
The proposal was attacked by Jim Swift, a Scottish Conservative councillor in East Renfrewshire, who said the council had been repeatedly warned about the problem.
He said: "Labour and the SNP haven’t listened and now children in East Renfrewshire risk missing out on being educated at one of Scotland’s best state schools unless they can produce a baptismal certificate.
“Across Scotland, many non-denominational pupils are happily taught in denominational schools, but now that’s in jeopardy because both Labour and the SNP failed to heed the warnings.
“What’s more, it may not be straightforward for eastern European Catholic families to get their hands on one of these certificates. This worrying state of affairs could have been avoided had the council just listened."
A consultation on the changes is to report to the council in December with the changes set to apply from January 2017.
As part of the transitional arrangements the council plans to spend £750,000 on temporary accommodation at St Ninian’s for 2021/22 to honour commitments to pupils currently entitled to a place there under existing admissions arrangements.
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