London boroughs are in a race against time to create more secondary school places as a new report shows that demand is set to soar across the capital.
A report from local authorities body London Councils has found that secondary pupil growth is accelerating and will overtake primary growth for the first time in 2017/18.
The Do The Maths report, published today, reveals that there will be 71,580 more secondary pupils attending school in London by 2020.
London Councils say the capital’s slice of the central government funding pot dedicated to creating new school places has fallen in recent years - despite the high demand for places in the city.
London boroughs have had to subsidise the creation of school places by a considerable amount, the report says. Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 almost £400m of council funding was diverted to school places.
The report comes just months after TES reported that a bulge in pupil numbers of secondary age across the country meant some school catchment areas had shrunk to less than a kilometre.
The report calls on the government to:
- Provide London schools with a proportion of school places funding that reflects the number of new school places needed in the capital
- Prioritise Free School approvals in areas of high demand for places
- Identify additional resources to fully meet the cost of delivering additional special education needs and disabilities (SEND) places across the country
Councillor Peter John, London Councils executive member for children, skills and employment, said: “The number of secondary school pupils in London is growing, which is a real challenge for boroughs because each new secondary school place costs around £6,000 more to create, on average, than a primary place. The clock is ticking - by 2021/22 London will need more than 47,000 additional secondary places.”
He added: “London parents want to know that their children will not face uncertainty over whether they will get a school place in the future, which is why we are calling on government to provide funding that reflects the real cost of school expansions and creating and staffing entirely new schools in London.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are delivering high-quality school places so every child, regardless of background or ability, can go to a good local school. We have invested almost £2billion in London in the last parliament, creating 200,000 new places, and will spend a further £1.1billion between now and 2019 - which is just under a quarter of all school place funding for England.
“Latest figures show the system is working - over 1.4 million more children are in good or outstanding schools than in 2010 meaning thousands more families have the choice of a good school place, there are fewer children being taught in large infant classes, and the vast majority of parents get places in their preferred schools.”
