Warning that pressure on school places will grow

‘We have added 19 new forms of entry, mostly in primary’

Education chiefs have warned Kent will face a continual increase in demand for school places after revealing it was forced to find 150 secondary places at short notice this summer.

The county council says at some schools classes have exceeded statutory limits to ensure children are given places.

The unexpected surge – equiv- alent to five forms of entry – is thought to be attributable to several factors.

While the increase coincided with this summer’s immigration crisis, the council says that is just one of several reasons.

It says that demand has also come from families moving into Kent from London.

The council’s director of education, Patrick Leeson, told county councillors Kent schools would come under pressure because of significant migration into the county.

Mr Leeson said: “What we are seeing is a level of migration into Kent on a continual basis that brings enormous challenges. There was a significant number of new arrivals into Kent over the summer holidays.

“That has required schools to work hard and, I have to say, to go over their planned admission numbers. We will continue to be challenged in this way as numbers continue to increase.”

However, most have been found places and just 14 children were without one. He added: “Over the last year, we have added 2,500 primary school places. We continue to have to work hard to keep pace with demand. We have delivered all the new places that we said we would. We have added 19 new forms of entry, mostly in primary but also a few in secondary.”

Unions say that some schools are having to add extra classes to cope with demand.

‘We will continue to be challenged in this way as numbers increase’

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