Blackdog Consultation

Education and Children's Services at Aberdeenshire Council would like to get your views regarding the school catchment (school zone) for the Blackdog area.

The school catchment area for Blackdog is split between Balmedie School within Aberdeenshire Council and Scotstown School within Aberdeen City Council for primary education. The Blackdog area is zoned for Bridge of Don Academy for secondary education. Balmedie School is approximately 3.3 miles from Blackdog, and Scotstown School is approximately 4.3 miles from Blackdog.

We would like to gather the views of the residents of Blackdog and have created a short survey. This survey will be solely focused on primary education catchment areas and not the secondary catchment area. We welcome your participation.

We have included maps to indicate the area of Blackdog that the questions refer to.

Map 1 shows the catchment areas (zones) for Balmedie School and Scotstown School. The blue line shows the boundary between Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City Councils.

Map 1 - Balmedie and Scotstown Catchment Areas

Map 2 shows the postcodes within the Blackdog area that we would like your views on. The red area is individual postcodes and the purple line shows the boundary between Balmedie and Scotstown Schools which currently runs through the middle of Blackdog.

Map 2 - Blackdog Postcodes

The short survey will take approximately five minutes to complete.  The survey will close on Friday 6 May 2022.

Aberdeenshire Council is proposing, subject to the outcome of the statutory consultation process;

• To rezone the Balmedie School catchment area to include the whole of the Blackdog settlement and align with the Aberdeenshire Council boundary.
• The proposal would apply to all primary age pupils within the settlement of Blackdog from August 2023.
• There will be no requirement for existing primary school pupils to move schools if their catchment area changes.

This consultation is being undertaken in accordance with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010. The Act requires that changes to the school estate, including a school boundary or catchment area, are subject to rigorous statutory consultation.

The consultation will run from 14 October 2022 until 6 January 2023, any written comments on the proposal must be received by Aberdeenshire Council within this period for them to be taken into account. 

The proposal document can be viewed on the Aberdeenshire Council website at: https://aberdeenshire.gov.uk/schools/school-info/education-consultations/ 

Map 1 below is the current school catchment area for Balmedie School and the council boundary in red.

Map 1 - Balmedie School current catchment area

Map 2 below is the proposed catchment area for Balmedie School aligning with the Council boundary, including the whole of the settlement of Blackdog. 

Map 2 - Proposed Balmedie School catchment area

This survey has been created to give you an opportunity to give us your views on the proposal.  The survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete. You may also email learningestates@aberdeenshire.gov.uk with your comments.

The survey will remain open until 6 January 2023 at 4pm.