Schools Struggling To Cope With Soaring Birth Rate

Primary schools are being forced to expand at high speed to cope with a sudden surge in pupil numbers.

A rising birth rate, immigration and the recession - which has deterred many parents from private education - have combined to leave councils fearing they will struggle to find places for all children who are due to start at infant school this September.

As a result, schools are now being told they must find room for entire new classes of children.

Even if the new classrooms are ready in time, it still may not be possible to take in all applicants - so there is expected to be a rise in the numbers of parents rejected by their first-choice school.

Many parents have already had to make their applications for school places for their four-year-olds, but the full picture will not emerge until May, when offers of school places will have been made or denied.

At the root of the problem is the baby boom that began in England and Wales in 2001, which has accelerated to such an extent that the birth rate is at its highest since 1991.

Figures released last year showed that women now have an average of 1.91 children in their lifetime - a rise of almost 20 per cent on the 1.63 figure in 2001.

That meant that 691,013 children were born in 2007, an increase of three per cent over the previous year.

Analysts have pointed out that rising immigration has helped fuel the rise in birth rate, as foreign-born mothers are more likely to have big families.

In 2007 almost a quarter of babies nationwide were born to mothers who were themselves born overseas.

In London an astonishing 53 per cent of children were born to immigrant mothers. And those children need school places.

The recession has also led to fresh challenges for education chiefs as cash-strapped parents decide they can no longer to pay school fees of up to £11,000 a year, and reluctantly plump for a state education instead.

Among the councils taking special measures to cope is Kingston upon Thames in southwest London, where ten new reception classes - for children who turn five in the next academic year - are being provided to cater for 300 extra children.

In the following year, September 2011, the council is already planning to create another four classes, as well as considering building a new school and extending 'many other' schools.

Between 2009 and 2011 the number of reception classes will have grown by more than a quarter.

In Bristol applications for new infant places have risen by almost ten per cent, so nine new classes - 270 extra places - are being created, while in Leeds, where applications are up five per cent, 260 new places are being provided.

Brent and Barnet in north London are each adding four classes, and Brighton in East Sussex is providing two extra classes, on top of two already added last year.

Only in a few locations with their own trends are applications down. Wolverhampton, Hull and Lancashire believe numbers will fall this September.

Overall however the growth in school sizes will worry those parents who believe small schools provide the individual attention and calmer atmosphere most welcoming to young children starting education for the first time.

Creating new classes will also stretch education budgets at a time when public spending is about to be slashed - with £300m having to come from the Government to fund new primary places.

Schools minister Vernon Coaker said: 'It is a matter for local authorities to make sure there are sufficient school places available to meet parental demand.

'We are aware of the continuing pressure that some authorities will continue to face with growing numbers of primary pupils for several years, and this will be an important consideration for the next spending review in 2011.'

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