Schools crisis as applications for secondaries to soar by 25,000

PARENTS applying for a secondary school place for their child will be competing with 25,000 more applicants this year amid a national capacity crisis.

Analysis by the Good Schools Guide shows there will be an application surge as the population of 11-yearolds rises, resulting in the most competitive year ever.

The boom has been caused by high migration in the 1990s and 2000s, as analysis found the birth rate for foreign- born mothers tended to be higher.

This first caused problems for primary schools, with many having to create extra classrooms and super-size classes.

Now the issue is transferring to secondaries as the extra children age. Ahead of the secondary school application deadline for 2019 entry – October 31 – the guide has used birth data to predict how many extra children will need a place next autumn. It found that while last year, there were 582,761 applicants, this year there are likely to be more than 607,000.

The guide, considered the definitive directory of the best private and state schools, said: ‘Due to a shortage of places at high-performing schools, Year 7 entry will be more highly contested than ever before, leaving many families angry and confused when children are offered places at underperforming schools to which they did not apply.’ Its education consultant Elizabeth Coatman added: ‘However much you may want your child to attend a high-performing school, in some parts of the country it would be a waste of time, and a waste of a valuable school choice, to apply unless your child matches the oversubscription criteria, be that to do with geography, religion or ability.’ Researchers at the guide said that in previous years, the most competitive area has been London, where schools receive ‘many, many more applications than they have places’.

When secondary school places were announced in the spring for this academic year, 12 London boroughs had received more applications than they have places. Other past badlyhit areas have included the Home Counties, due to London overspill, and big cities such as Birmingham. The last five years have seen a 12 per cent rise in applicants to secondary schools and the intake in 2019 will be the largest in decades.

Mrs Coatman added: ‘ The demographic bulge, the result of the highest birth rates since the 1970s, has been anticipated for many years but the slow trickle of new schools and expansions has failed to provide enough places which match parents’ expectations.’

For autumn 2018 entry, one in six children missed out on their chosen secondary place, with the proportion rising for the fifth year in a row. The Department for Education was contacted for comment.

‘It will leave many families confused’