Non-resident parents often encounter unnecessary obstacles to obtaining information about their children's education, in situations when they are perfectly entitled to obtain school reports, attend parents evenings and share in the flow of information from schoool to home.

FNF Scotland has published a guide to help these parents overcome the obstacles and clarify their legal rights. 

It covers the legal entitlements of non-resident parents with and without parental rights and responsibilities and recommendations and situations in which school records can be withheld.

The first contact with the school is crucial, and we suggest that it is better to make the intial contact by letter or email rather than by phone call or in person. The non-resident parent may be anxious and fearful whn making this enquiry whereas the school receptionist may be trying to do three things at once and may come over unintentionally as negative. 

The guide includes sample letter templates for various categories of parent.

This publication follows our research  carried out in partnership with Children in Scotland.  A guide for education authorities and schools will be published shortly.