Primary 1 registration for children starting school opens early November

Renfrewshire parents and carers with children due to turn five soon are being asked to register them for school. 

Between Friday 1 and Friday 8 November 2024, parents and carers can apply for a place at school using an online form on Renfrewshire Council’s website.

Children must turn five between 1 March 2025 and 28 February 2026 to attend school from August 2025. 

Parents and carers will have the choice of their catchment area’s denominational (Roman Catholic) or non-denominational school, or the Gaelic unit at West Primary.

Birth certificates must be submitted to complete registration, but anyone who cannot find their child’s birth certificate should continue to apply for school and then ask for a replacement birth certificate to provide to the school at a later date.

Placing requests to send a child to another school outside the catchment area they live in can be made up until 15 March 2025.

Anyone with a child aged four when they are due to start school can apply for an additional year of free nursery or childcare and delay when their child goes to school. They must contact their child’s nursery or childminder first, then register their child for school, and finally apply to defer their child using the form on the Council’s website.

Those who cannot fill out the register for school form online should call their catchment school and make an appointment. Parents and carers can also call 0300 300 0170 for advice and support.

Councillor Emma Rodden, convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Education and Children’s Services Policy Board, said: “Registering for school is an important milestone for all parents and carers and it can be done online or by speaking to your child’s local school if you don’t want to do it online.”