Fresh plans to limit the number of pupils at four Angus primary schools have been approved by councillors.
An existing cap at Whitehills Primary School in Forfar will be lifted in the new session.
Members of Angus Council’s children and learning committee also instructed officers to undertake a review of capacities.
It is now four years since the last complete review of primary school space. A further report will be brought back to committee early in 2020.
Councillors approved the capping of the roll at Mattocks, Timmergreens, Warddykes and Woodlands primaries.
Mattocks primary has a working capacity of 75 and the projected roll for 2019-20 is 73.
This means the school will be operating at 97.3% of its working capacity and five places will be retained for pupils moving into the catchment area. The roll will be capped at 70.
The working capacity of Timmergreens is 217 and the roll for 2019-20 is currently forecast to be 207, which is slightly above the 95% threshold.
It is policy to retain 10 spaces for pupils moving into the catchment area. In light of this, it is proposed to cap the roll at 207.
Based on the use of designated classrooms only, the working capacity of Warddykes is 319 but the projected roll is currently 314 which means the school will be operating at 98.4%.
The school must retain 14 places for pupils moving into the catchment area. The roll will now be capped at 305.
The working capacity of Woodlands is 217 and 10 places must be retained. This gives an effective working capacity of 207.
The projected roll for 2019-20 is 228 and the school has converted a general purpose room to use as a classroom.
Schools and learning director Pauline Stephen said: “It is our aspiration to manage the roll downwards to ensure all pupils can benefit from the use of the general purpose room in the school.
“The schools and learning service is currently investigating options to reconfigure available space within the school to accommodate pupils.
“The proposals will not increase capacity so it is recommended that the school roll is capped at 207 for session 2019-20.”
Warddykes in particular has seen a high number of requests in the past three years.
Priority 2 placing requests for these schools will now be refused.
Priority 2 defines children whose home address is not within the school’s delineated area and who do not have a brother or sister already attending the school.
The cap at Whitehills has been removed.
It has a working capacity of 434 and in 2018-19 it was proposed to retain 14 reserved places in the school for children moving into the catchment area.
The roll was capped at 420 with a commitment to manage the roll downwards.
The projected roll for 2019-20 is 397 pupils and the cap will now be removed.
