Schools told to expand to meet demand for places

BRITAIN is facing an education crisis with too few secondary school places to meet demand, experts have warned.

Nearly half of local councils face a shortfall within the next five years, according to the Local Government Association.

The situation is so bad it wants new powers to force academies and free schools to expand.

The number of children attending primary school has increased in recent years, fuelled by a rising birth rate in the 2000s. The spike is now making its way through the school system and recent projections indicate secondary school numbers in England are set to rise by almost a fifth over the next decade. Analysis of Department for Education data and local pupil forecasts show 125,000 children face missing out on a secondary school place by 2022 in England and Wales.

Academies and free schools answer directly to the department, bypassing local council control. Richard Watts, chairman of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “Councils have worked hard to help create almost 600,000 additional primary places since 2010. This is no small feat.

“However, as those children move on to secondary schools, the majority of which are now academies, securing new secondary places in the areas where they are needed is becoming increasingly difficult. If we are to avoid this looming secondary school crisis, councils need to be able to force academy schools to expand if voluntary agreement is impossible and must be given back powers to open new maintained schools themselves.”

LGA analysis suggests 12 local authorities would face a shortfall in secondary school places from 2018/2019 without changes. That figure rises to 23 in 2019/20, 41 in 2020/21, 57 in 2021/22 and 66 in 2022/23.

More than 60,000 appeals were lodged by parents this year after their children were denied places at their favoured school. More than a fifth of the appeals were successful.