Primary-school places shortfall: what's happening where you live?

[HelenMumsnet]

Hello.

It's headline news today that one in five primary schools are now full or near capacity.

And, with 240,000 new primary-school places needed for 2014, the National Audit Office is saying the Department of Education "faces a real challenge... there are indications of strain on school places".

We were wondering how you all feel about this? Do you have a child due to start primary school in September? Are you aware of a shortage of places in your area? What steps are your local council taking to make school places available to all those who need one?

Please do let us know.

[Talkinpeace]

Iggity
Is Hillingdon LEA opening them, or are they free schools / academies?

[lougle]

It's not just mainstream schools. Special schools are having huge pressure put on places - more children are being born with disabilities due to surviving earlier and earlier births, infrastructure is old and outdated.

DD1's school has already increased capacity as far as is able and even at this point in the year, the number of children 'needing' a place at her school far outstrips the number of places available.

In our local mainstream area we are quite lucky. Our nearest (within 5 miles) 6 schools are rated Oustanding (5) and Good (1) so there is, in theory, no such thing as a 'bad' school here. Last year, none of the schools were oversubscribed.

[denialandpanic]

Surrey village.moved dd in to local school when we moved last year as a place was available and thank God we did as local rumour says out of thirty places 24 likely to go to siblings (which will now include ds). if the rumors are true the school is going to be very very oversubscribed this year.thing is all the surrounding town schools are overflowing.

[denialandpanic]

I'm refusing to even think about secondary schools at this point

[AnnieLobeseder]

Our primary had a drop in intake this year. There are usually two reception classes but they didn't have the numbers so only have one class this year. I was wondering if the low birth rate for 2008 was local or national - I guess this thread has answered the question that it's local!!

I'm very grateful our local CofE school is only moderately religious and not over-subscribed. The frequent despairing threads on MN where people can't get their children into a local school and have to travel for miles are awful. It absolutely shouldn't be the case that children can't go to their own local school.

[MothershipG]

This is old news for Ealing they've been struggling to find enough places for every child in the borough for several years.

The primary my DC go to has been 'over-subscribed within catchment' for donkey's years because it's popular and has a stupid shaped catchment (based on old parish boundaries I think.) As a 2 form entry school on a very small site, not a blade of grass and we celebrated our centenary a few years back, it felt crowded but the LEA bullied the school into going to 3 forms of entry. Had to build up and rejig playground so now kids have less space per head than battery hens.

What amazes me is how this increase in numbers seems to have come as such a surprise to local gov/strategy planners and no one from the council could give me an answer why this was.

[Talkinpeace]

MothershipG
It is NOT a surprise to LEAs and local government.
But Whitehall - Gove in particular - has barred them from building new schools.

[MothershipG]

Well our Local gov did a very convincing impression of being caught on the hop when then presented an extra form as a choice but then bullied the school into it when they dissented!

They were desperately trying to justify themselves but at no point suggested it was because they hadn't been permitted to build new schools. And frankly I don't believe our local councillors wouldn't have lept at the chance to blame some one else!

[Blu]

Southwark does not have one single LEA controlled community secondary.

[Talkinpeace]

MothershipG
www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/schoolorganisation/f00209212/establishing-new-school
Despite the academy/Free School presumption, in certain exceptional circumstances it is still possible to publish proposals for a new maintained school outside of a competition, under sections 10 or 11 of the EIA 2006.

Speak to the head of Education at what is left of EAling LEA and ask if they have permission to build a school to meet the need.

[MothershipG]

Sorry Talkin I have neither the time or the patience to wade through that excessively tedious looking 6 pages so if you have I am happy to concede that you know more than me and I bow to your greater wisdom.

Fortunately for my DC 1 has moved onto Secondary and the other is in Y6, the 3 form intake got to Y3 this year I think, I really feel for the kids coming up behind them when the school reaches capacity!

[williaminajetfighter]

I find it shocking that the most populated areas and areas with jobs are the ones where schools are oversubscribed. Surely easy enough to anticipate??!

I'm in Oxford. Oversubscribed. Didn't get my DD1 into school and had to go private. Never wanted that but wasn't much alternative.

[Talkinpeace]

MothershipG
Sadly because I live in a town that sold its secondary school years ago I've had to read up on such things.
Trust me, Gove and his acolytes seem to think that Free schools and Sponsored academies will pop up where there is need rather than where there is potential profit.
They are deluded, and the UK's children will suffer for his arrogance.

[fuckadoodledandy]

bryte suspect I live in the same large town in East Anglia as you...

My daughter attends a small CofE school which had nearly 4x the number of applications for the usual 30 place intake this year. It has been told it must take another reception class (in a portacabin), and has now proposed to double the school size by expanding to a 2 class 60 place intake every year. The school is in the centre of town, has a tiny playground, virtually no facilities and nowhere to expand into. The plans for the expansion are ludicrous, and the consultation the council set up was laughable. The architect even admitted trying to fit double the number of puipls into an already tiny space was 'not ideal'.

The school is amazing, and it has a great reputation for a reason. But the surge in birth rate did not happen overnight, and I struggle to understand why the local council are so short-sighted that they could not see the expansion in the birth rate and large increase in economic migrants (with big families).

It's a really depressing situation...and absolutely agree about the lack of foresight in looking at secondary places. And we wonder why we're so far behind in the world education stakes.

[Iggity]

Talkinpeace, seems to be Hillingdon Council. Spending 149 million on the school extensions.

[Iggity]

Sorry Talkin, didn't answer your question. One school is a faith school and the other is being opened by an Academy Trust. Don't see any mention of them being free schools but not sure if 2nd one is an academy.

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

Have just been to look at primary schools today - North East England. Two catholic schools, both undersubscribed. I think there are two extremes though - some hideously oversubscribed and some struggling to fill.

[nailak]

I have to say, despite my borough being in one of the most deprived areas, Newham has dealt effectively, other people are talking of up to 8 bulge classes, we have 30. I know no one who wasnt offered their first choice primary place. If people move house, after a couple of terms they normally get a place in a nearer school, even if the distance closer is like 700m.

they have used creative solutions, such as playground on the roof, and funky designs, staggered playtimes and lunch times, multi function spaces to deal with some of the issues of space and crowding mentioned here.

I am happy to live here, and think many opportunities are provided for primary and under 5s

[WithASpider]

Our local primary has always been well attended. DD1 only got a place because 2003/4 was a low birth year here. We're less than a mile away.

Of the 60 place intake, 2/3 are siblings. I'm relying on this to get DS in next year! My neighbour 4 doors away didn't get in last year, as they were oversubscribed by half again. Her DS got in to our other local primary. He's still on the waiting list for the original one though, and if a place comes up she will move him.

There are fewer than 300 families in a 460 place school.

Thankfully our school has more than enough space to expand if need be, and it wouldn't surprise me if they have to in the next few years.

[Dancergirl]

Shocked to read some of these posts.

What happens if there are MORE siblings than places? Is it then done on distance?

[msbossy]

I feel frustrated. Catchment carries a higher priority than siblings here, and they keep moving the bulge class around, so you either opt for your catchment school whether you like it or not (and still have to pray they get in), or risk having children at different schools.

What is the LEA doing? Well, they won't tell me! The LEA can't tell me where the bulge class will be in 2015 when DD2 starts, so I can come up with a strategy for them to both be at the same school...

And don't get me started on the fact that neither of the two outstanding schools that are 5 minutes walk away are our catchment school - the satisfactory school 15 minutes walk away is our catch(using a funny-shaped net)ment school.

[Talkinpeace]

iggity
LEA / maintaned school extensions are NOT the same as new schools in the middle of the gaps in the canvas.
ONLY free schools and sponsored academies are allowed into those gaps
the LEA must twiddle its thumbs (by law)

msbossy
depending on your LEA, by 2015, they may not be responsible for any of the schools in the area - the Dfe directly will - so no wonder they will not answer.

nailak
which is all well and good - but what about acces to Bunsen Burners at Secondary level

[RueDeWakening]

I'm in Sutton - which is fairly widely acknowledged to have great primary schools and one of the few London boroughs with superselective or partially selective secondary schools.

We are around 800m away from our nearest primary school. We are 600m outside of the admissions distance for Every.Single.Primary in the borough. Fortunately, DD did get allocated a place at one of our choices in the end, and so long as sibling priority remains, we should be fine.

Most primary schools now have at least one bulge class, there will be a new 120 intake primary opening this September (on the site of a high school that was relocated and the site due to be sold for housing development...). At least 3 other primary schools I know of are being permanently expanded by this September and there will be 7 bulge classes in total.

According to a consultation meeting I attended last year, the council's approach for creating additional spaces at secondary level when the time comes relies entirely on establishing bulge classes. This will be difficult, as almost without exception, our local secondary schools became academies last summer. I have no idea what will happen tbh.

[denialandpanic]

I think it's siblings ranked by distance if oversubscribed.I believe this happened at our local Catholic school last year and it came down to measuring " Catholicism" cue mad scramble towards mass attendance for families that got older siblings in on distance alone on low head count year and are worried about the younger ones.