PLACES CRISIS AS KIDS HUNT FOR SCHOOLS - 105 Westminster children still without reception class places

Published: 09 July 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

SCHOOLS chiefs are locked in frantic negotiations with headteachers to create extra classes to meet soaring demand for primary school places.

With just three weeks of term time remaining, there are 105 children in Westminster still without reception class places at schools for September and capacity is at bursting point.

The scramble for places is most intense in the north of the borough, where the most ­popular schools are reporting three applicants for every place.

The surge in demand has come about through a combination of a rise in birth rates  and a fall in the number of parents opting for private schools.

Westminster’s children’s services department has been criticised for not anticipating the problem, and parents are anxious about how schools will cope with the pressure of extra classes.

One parent, Luke Bozier, whose four-year- old daughter didn’t win a place at any of her six school choices, despite attending nursery at King Solomon Academy in Paddington, said it made his “blood boil” that she couldn’t get an education in her own borough.

There was an average of 43 applicants to each of the ­borough’s 41 schools – around 90 extra applications from last year.

The council has moved to reassure parents, saying they have redoubled efforts to put a solution in place in the coming days. It is understood that Robinsfield Infants School in St John’s Wood and Christ Church Bentinck in Church Street will be expanded and extra teachers recruited. The council would not say whether it would follow other boroughs in erecting temporary classrooms outside of school buildings. 

Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the Labour group in Westminster, said the affected parents deserve an apology.

He added: “Why has the council again failed to plan ahead for the increase in school-age children? This last-minute scramble to provide school places could have been avoided if they took education more seriously. 

“Parents are entitled to a full explanation and an apology from the Conservatives for this basic failure to provide enough reception class places.”

Under the council’s controlled admissions system, parents make six choices in order of preference. According to City Hall officials, nine out of ten were offered a place at one of their preferred schools.

But Mr Bozier said: “For some reason, having spent a year at a nursery which is part of this school [King Solomon] doesn’t give her the right to a place in reception. Every single school we applied for is oversubscribed. If I had the means my girls would be in a private school in an instant.”

Councillor Nickie Aiken, cabinet member for children and young people at Westminster Council, said: “The pressure on school places is not unique to Westminster but is a London-wide issue which many boroughs are experiencing. This year not only have we seen an increase in the number of applications from Westminster residents – a reflection of how much our schools have improved – but we have also had to manage a major influx of families from other parts of the UK and indeed the world. 

“I can reassure parents that we are tackling this issue head on and negotiations are taking place with a number of schools to create extra reception classes. I expect that arrangements will be confirmed in the coming days while we also start work to deal with this issue on a long-term basis.”