Sixth form capacity under strain

“TEMPORARY schools” will need to be built using mobile classrooms on playing fields to meet a surge in demand as sixth forms are set to be inundated due to grade inflation.

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, told The Daily Telegraph that due to the greater number of students who have now met the entry level criteria to study A-levels, “necessary capacity to take extra students” had to be provided.

“We will need to build temporary schools that are robust on existing college land,” he said. “Some won’t be able to because they are on a small plot of land, some will be heavily oversubscribed but those that have the land could have the extra buildings set up in time for the September enrolment.”

Mr Watkin suggested makeshift classrooms could be made out of mobile units on school grounds, while local councils could also make use of “disused municipal buildings” for schools that don’t have the land.

Robert Halfon, chairman of the education select committee, sounded a note of caution. “It may be that colleges need support and funding to ensure that students can go to college,” he said. “The support that they need from the Government needs to be there”.

Meanwhile, Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defence select committee, said the Government had to focus on getting schools to open on time. “The next challenge is to wargame how schools go back and what the challenges may be,” he said. “What are going to be the hurdles? Is accommodation an issue? Are there existing buildings that could be leaned upon?”

♦ Roger Taylor, the Ofqual chairman, threatened to resign unless Gavin Williamson publicly backed the exam regulator in the wake of the results fiasco, it emerged last night. Mr Taylor issued an ultimatum after the Education Secretary appeared to attempt to shift blame on to the watchdog, reported The Guardian. On Wednesday, the Department of Education said it had “full confidence” in Ofqual.