School places full in Kent after influx from overseas
SCHOOLS in Kent have run out of places for children in entire year groups, owing to the influx of migrants, councils and MPS have warned.
Families have been told there are no school places for 11- and 13-year-olds in Canterbury and Ashford because of the “unexpected” and “unplanned” arrival of migrant children in the two areas.
The council is having to pay schools to bus those children who have missed out on places to other towns up to 25 miles away because of the shortage of places.
MPS and all the councils in Kent have protested to the Home Office that services in the county are at “breaking point” because of the surging demand and cost of living crisis now compounded by the rise in migrants reaching Britain across the Channel in small boats.
Former Cabinet minister Damian Green, Tory MP for Ashford, said: “There are children in Kent being told that there are no school places in their own town. This is completely unacceptable.
“We have to spread the burden around the country and make the whole system faster and more efficient. If we don’t do that, this will become a longrunning problem that will really affect people in their daily lives. It already is in Kent and this will spread around the country. This is a very, very urgent problem that the Home Office needs to grip.”
In a letter to Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, leaders of 14 Kent councils wrote: “Schools in Canterbury and Ashford currently have no Year 7 and Year 9 places for local children due to the unexpected and therefore
25 Distance in miles which some children in Kent have to travel for a school place, with the council providing buses
unplanned arrivals of refugee children disproportionately placed by the Home Office in these two local authority areas.
“Local children are having to travel to other towns to access their education, placing further financial burden on Kent county council, who have to fund their home-to-school transport as a result.”
It follows the row over “unlawful” overcrowding at Manston asylum processing centre that has forced the Home Office to rapidly move out 2,500 migrants.