Friday 13 January 2012

Surging birth rates puts pressure on primary school places

More than 450,000 additional primary school places will be needed in England by 2015 as schools face pressure from rising birth rates, new government figures have revealed.

The pressure will be most keenly felt in urban areas.

In one London borough, Barking, a 40% rise is expected in the school population, the equivalent of dozens of new schools.

The government says that it has no plans to scrap the cap on infant (Years Reception to Year 2) school class sizes, currently set at thirty children per class.

This will mean more bulge classes in existing schools, difficult for the schools and councils when they are facing budgetary constraints.

The irony is that there are currently nearly 450,000 “empty” primary school seats across the country, but these are more often in rural areas.