Can schools cope with the rising demand for school places?
The majority of schools were unable to keep up with demand for pupil places
in the admission round for the September 2015 intake. When asked how
many applications their school received versus places available, almost six in
10 (59%) school leaders told us that demand outstripped supply. Forty-one
per cent received up to 50% more applications, and one in 10 (10%) received
almost twice as many as they could accept.
Pressure is being felt more at the primary level, where three in five (60%)
schools received more applications for places than they could accommodate
for the 2015/16 intake, compared to just over half (52%) of secondary schools.
These findings are not surprising with pupil numbers on the rise and an
expected extra 880,000 places needed by 2023². And as pupils currently in
primary schools move through the system, it seems likely that many secondary
schools will be feeling further pressure for places soon.
How many applications vs. pupil places available did your
school receive in the admission round for 2015/16?
Fewer
About the same
1-50% more
Over 50% more
This year we had 222 applications for 60
pupil places and it’s been a similar story
for the last few years. We could only start to
meet this additional demand with the capital
investment in our premises, which means
we’re now expecting 10 new classrooms to
improve provision for our children.
That said, taking additional pupils and the
associated expansion has implications
outside of funding. Our school field provides
plenty of play space in summer, but come
winter, the hard play area is the same size as
when we were a one-form-entry school and
we now hold an extra four classes.
We’re not only having to rethink how we
manage playtimes for our growing number
of pupils, but how we provide on-site parking
with no space for more staff, and how we
alleviate the chaos on the roads around the
school during pick-up and drop-off times.”
Headteacher
16%
10
25%
41%
State of Education Survey 2016 | www.thekeysupport.com
18%
² Department for Education – https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/
system/uploads/attachment_data/file/330261/SFR23_2014_Main_Text.pdf
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