40,000 new school places to cope with our booming population

TENS of thousands of new school places are to be created to cope with England’s population boom.

Ministers have set aside £680million to fund 40,000 places in primary and secondary schools across the country by 2021.

They are needed in part because of a baby boom fuelled by high migration under the Labour government.

Earlier this year, the Government said an extra 600,000 secondary school places would be needed in England by 2023, plus almost 80,000 new primary places.

That means the extra money announced last night will only begin to fund the shortfall.

There will also be fears that hundreds of schools will be blighted by temporary classrooms until permanent ones can be built.

Ministers said £50million of the funding will go on places for children with special educational needs.

Children’s minister Nadhim Zahawi said: ‘All parents want to send their child to a good local school, one that meets their individual needs and supports them to achieve their full potential, regardless of the challenges they may face.

‘This funding will help to create thousands more school places across the country, with a clear focus on transforming the experience of education for children with special educational needs or disabilities.’

The places shortage has led to many pupils being taught in classes of more than 30, and has made it more difficult for parents to get their children into their first choice of school.

The funding comes after a Government projection found that, over the next five years, the number of secondary pupils will rise by more than 600,000.

This originates from a surge in births that began in the 2000s following a period of sustained high immigration as figures show foreign-born women have a higher birth rate. The population bulge has already created problems for primary schools, with many having to expand.

Now that issue is set to transfer to secondary schools. In 2016/17, there were 3.14million pupils of secondary school age in England. This is predicted to hit 3.8million by 2023/24. Data also showed the number of secondary schools that are full is already rising, with 548 – about one in six – full or in excess of capacity.

In primaries, pupil numbers may start to plateau beyond 2020/21. However an estimated 79,000 places still need to be created since 23 per cent are full or running beyond capacity.

Last week forecasts said England’s population will soar by more than 3 million over the next decade to almost 60 million. The Office for National Statistics expects most of the growth will come from migration, rather than births exceeding deaths. And it is forecasting the boom despite a fall in the expected number of EU migrants after Brexit.

The Department for Education said the 40,000 extra places come on top of 825,000 created since 2010. Ministers say they want to ensure only the best schools are expanded, so the increase does not simply lumber more children with the worstperforming teachers.

Of the £680million, £50million will be targeted on free schools. A separate £50million pot for special educational needs schools will fund about 740 places as well as state- of-theart facilities that will give families more choice and help meet increasing demand.

The National Network of Parent Carer Forums said: ‘Specialist provision continues to be under great pressure across the country and it is vital this money makes the greatest impact.’ Gail Walshe of Contact, a charity for families of disabled youngsters, said: ‘We welcome any increase in funding that will help inclusion of children with additional needs in mainstream schools.’

Earlier this month ministers announced a £50million fund to create up to 2,000 grammar school places.

‘Under great pressure’

THE fact that a third of children leaving primary school are overweight and more than 22,000 ‘severely obese’ is nothing short of a national disgrace.

There are many reasons. Schools have cut or abandoned competitive sport and structured PE lessons. Councils have scandalously sold off playing fields for short-term gain. And food manufacturers continue to peddle snacks and fizzy drinks stuffed with fats and refined sugar.

Parents too must shoulder some of the blame, for allowing children to retreat into a sedentary virtual world, rather than getting out and working off the flab.

The cost is plain to see. A recent report suggested every family will soon have to pay some £2,000 a year extra to keep the NHS afloat. Much of that money will be spent treating diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses linked with obesity.

It’s a grotesque irony that although billions more is to be lavished on the NHS, scarcely a penny will go towards fighting one of the biggest drains on its resources. TODAY we report that 40,000 school places are being created to cater for our population boom – in part fuelled by high migration since the Blair years. By 2023, an estimated 600,000 more will be required – and that still probably won’t be enough. The Left love to smear anyone who raises concerns about immigration as racist. Will they say the same when their own children or grandchildren find it impossible to get a school place?