The School Placings and Exclusions Appeals Committee of Aberdeenshire Council met on Wednesday 26 August 2026. The meeting was scheduled to consider two placing appeals, one for Mearns Academy and another for Meldrum Academy.

Placing Appeal for Mearns Academy

The committee was scheduled to consider a placing appeal, referenced as E 1056, concerning Mearns Academy. The report pack indicated that this item involved information relating to the adoption, care, fostering, education, or supervision of a particular child.

Placing Appeal for Meldrum Academy

A further placing appeal, E 1060, was scheduled for discussion, relating to Meldrum Academy. Similar to the Mearns Academy appeal, this item also contained information pertaining to the adoption, care, fostering, education, or supervision of a particular child.

Public Sector Equality Duty

The committee was also scheduled to consider and potentially adopt a resolution regarding the Public Sector Equality Duty. This duty, as outlined in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010¹, requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, and victimisation, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between individuals who share protected characteristics and those who do not. The report pack highlighted that members should consider the contents of any Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA)² provided within reports and take them into account when reaching decisions.

Exempt Information

A resolution was also scheduled for consideration regarding the exclusion of the public and media representatives from the meeting for specific items. This exclusion was proposed under Section 50A (4) and (5) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973³, on the grounds that the discussions would likely involve the disclosure of exempt information. The report pack specified that this applied to items 6 and 7 of the business, which were the placing appeals for Mearns Academy and Meldrum Academy, respectively.