Schools to cut rolls due to fall in pupils

FALLING BIRTHRATES in Bradford will require some local primary schools to reduce their pupil numbers or face big funding reductions.

This week Bradford Council’s decision making Executive approved plans to reduce the pupil admission numbers at two schools, Carrwood Primary School in Holme Wood and Low Ash Primary School in Shipley.

They heard that recorded birth rates in Bradford in 2018 were at their lowest levels since 2005, meaning schools that were once struggling to find space for new pupils were now left with dwindling pupil numbers.

A school’s funding is directly related to the number of pupils attending the school, so too many vacancies mean that schools do not receive the maximum possible revenue.

Although there was a “bulge” in birth rates several years ago, this has now passed through primary schools, with pressure now on the secondary school system.

The reduction in pupil numbers will begin in September 2021, with Carrwood’s pupil admission number falling from 60 to 30, and Low Ash’s PAN falling from 90 to 60.

It means that eventually Carwood would have half as many pupils as it currently has.

Carrwood Primary School went from taking on 30 reception aged children to 60 in 2011 after a rise in the number of school aged children in the area.

The report says: “Data received from the NHS shows that the number of younger children living in this area who will require a school place in the coming years is lower than the number of school places available.”

There are currently 470 reception places in the school area Carrwood falls within. By September 2023 there are expected to be just 369 reception aged children in the area, although a development of 270 homes is currently under construction across the border in the Leeds part of Tyersal.