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Race on to find extra places for Lancashire pupils
Growing: Trinity CE Methodist Primary School in Buckshaw Village is set to expand
More than 2,000 extra primary school places are being created in Lancashire to help cope with a rise in demand for places.
The National Audit Office has warned that the biggest baby boom since the 1950s has fuelled a massive shortfall in school places across the UK.
However, education chiefs in Lancashire say they are on top of the situation and have already created 1,683 extra places across the county, including special schools, and are in the throes of getting approval to increase that to 2,120 places.
The local education authority carries out annual checks on school rolls and says plans are in hand to deal with the extra strain.
Lynn Mappin, Lancashire County Council’s head of capital and provision planning, said: “Like other areas in the country, Lancashire is experiencing an increase in the birth rate, and the consequent need for primary school places.
“However, not surprisingly in a county as large as Lancashire, this happens at different rates in different areas – there is rarely a consistent pattern.”
The authority has recently agreed to the closure of Out Rawcliffe CE Primary school, which is grossly undersubscribed, because there are empty places in all the surrounding primary schools.
However, last week approval was given to expand admission numbers at Trinity CE Methodist School in Buckshaw Village from September from 30 to 60 to cope growing demand in the area and extra places are also being provided for autistic youngsters at Hillside specialist school in Longridge.
Lynn added: “We currently have our eye on a number of ‘hotspots’, including central Lancashire, where we are monitoring the effects of significant housing developments and a rise in the birth rate.”
Consultation on extra places in East Lancashire is about to start and the officer said: “We expect that additional primary school places will be needed in South Ribble in the near future and the situation in Preston is being closely monitored, as primary school places are filling up quickly across parts of the city.
“Other areas seeing a rise in demand for primary school places are Lancaster and parts of the Ribble Valley and Rossendale.”
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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