In the news: are your local primary schools at breaking point?

[KateMumsnet]

Hello all

Research published today by the Labour party suggest that one in five primary schools does not have sufficient capacity for their pupils, with class sizes exceeding the statutory maximum of 30 children, and children being taught in temporary makeshift classrooms. Also in the news today, the Local Government Association is warning that 880,000 extra places will be required in England by 2023, pushing some schools to breaking point.

Is your child's school affected? Are your local schools under increasing pressure? And what's to be done? We'd love to know what you think.

Mmm1701 EU membership allows most Eastern Europeans to have the same rights to send their kids to school in the uk as uk born citizens.

" The generation that delayed having babies for education and careers then started having their families."

ngggggggggggggggggggggg

I know you're not blaming older women but this grates. Another thing to blame 40 something women for. We could just as well blame the fathers who have several children with several different women for being feckless shits.

Statistically these older women are more likely to only have 1 child that they can actually afford.

BoftheP I know thatat the moment with the EU rules we have no choice but if we come out of the EU ( which I hope we do) then all that will change and perhaps we won't need any extra school places.
I agree with dueling....older women having babies is not the problem....if they are having children later then there are fewer children from younger women.

"I am hopping about the 'no new LEA schools/only new academy or free school schools allowed' law."

That's not quite what it says: it says that new schools have to be academies, unless no backer can be found in which case LEA can ooen one. Though as mrz pointed out, there are funding problems.

(The answer might be to move to Islington, where the borough appears to insist they have no school place crisis).

I know thatat the moment with the EU rules we have no choice but if we come out of the EU ( which I hope we do) then all that will change and perhaps we won't need any extra school places.

There are around two million non-British EU citizens in the UK but almost the same number of British citizens live elsewhere in the EU. Pulling out of the EU might mean that the latter have to return to the UK, so the problems with housing, education, medical services wouldn't necessarily be solved.

Older women having babies is not the problem

the NAO has said the rising birth rate is related to a 6% increase in the number of women of child-bearing age since 2003, plus more older women having babies.

m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30780126

a lot of that 6% increase is in the immigrant population.
A significant number of British citizens living abroad are retired people living in Spain and Portugal, whereas most of the non British EU citizens living here are much younger and many have children or are of child rearing age. As I said up thread a school in Nottingham does not teach English other than EAL because there are NO children there for whom English is their first language. That is due to immigration

Doesn't that mean we're exporting old people who make low net contributions to economic growth & they're exporting young people whose children will be our future taxpayers? Think Britain might be net winners.

a lot of that 6% increase is in the immigrant population

^Official figures for 2013 show that more than a quarter of births (26.5%) in England and Wales were to women born outside the UK - that is 185,075 babies out of a total of 698,512 born that year.*
m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30780126

I wouldn't say just over a quarter is "a lot". As other posters have already mentioned, being born outside the UK does not always mean you are an immigrant.

Duelling fanjo - I wasn't blaming older mothers, just trying to explain why one generation delaying having babies creates a baby boom when it catches up. I could be poster girl (well, older woman) for this.

Nor do I blame immigrants, who I generally see contributing positively to our economy and our town.

I put blame on the government for the free school programme diverting cash away from building schools where we need them, and local and central government for not planning ahead. The midwives could have told them in early 2009 there was a baby boom, they certainly told me!

lljkk...we are exporting old people who would be high users of the health and social care system.....and how do you know how many of the immigrants will stay to contribute long term to our economy.
we are talking about education here and old people do not use primary schools so if they all came back it would make no difference to those schools.

26.5% IS a lot.....and I would bet that the majority are immigrants but the statistics don't say where they are from.

26.5% IS a lot, and of course not all will be immigrant mothers but I am prepared to bet that the majority are

The stats do say where they are from unfortunately for you it does not say what their nationality or immigration status is. www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/parents--country-of-birth--england-and-wales/2013/stb-births-by-cob-2013.html

You may also want to do some research into expat destinations. www.theguardian.com/money/2012/nov/26/where-do-uk-expats-live

Oh, I forgot the most important bit!! Our council is 100% Labour but have no planning for any new schools and are now complaining about the government??? What have they done, at LA level nobody cares!

BoftheP. I would never take seriously anything that is in the Guardian. It's left wing drivel as far as I am concerned. And the Govt. stats show Poland first and last time I checked it was in Eastern Europe. Immigration is a big issue in this country. There is little point in denying it.

The guardian article refer to research published by the home office. Being born in Poland or anywhere else does not automatically mean your are an immigrant. Do you have any evidence to back up your drivel? I've produced loads. I rest my case.

We live 0.2 miles from a great school but local people with children older than my daughter ( starting sept 2016) have had to accept places in schools quite a distance away. The school I would love my daughter to attend is one form entry which of course doesn't leave much room for a new starter with no siblings. I am dreading the whole process. And I don't have a clue what other schools to put down as there are no half decent ones within the area!

I must add that the council are building three more schools in the area but as they are new academy style ofsted and general running of the school hasn't been assessed yet. It takes a while for schools to find their feet and as a primary teacher myself before having my dd I am not keen on sending her to a new school.plus they are all at least 30 mins drive.