By the numbers - School places
Share
By the numbers - School places
https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/numbers-school-places
Hundreds of thousands of extra school places will be needed by next year, the government’s spending watchdog has warned.
In a report published last week, the National Audit Office said the government was putting billions of pounds into establishing more places, but suggested that the Department for Education needed a better understanding of the costs and the impact its funding was having in local areas.
The heightened demand for primary places follows a leap in the birth rate: the rise in the number of children born in England between 2001 and 2011 was the biggest 10-year increase since the 1950s.
By September 2014, an estimated 256,000 extra school places would be needed, the report said.
Number of infant classes of 31 or more students*
2007 - 660
2008 - 720
2009 - 830
2010 - 1,000
2011 - 1,370
2012 - 1,510
Number of children in infant classes of 31 or more students
2007 - 23,200
2008 - 24,800
2009 - 28,900
2010 - 31,300
2011 - 43,100
2012 - 47,300
Number of students per class on average at key stage 1
2007 - 25.6
2008 - 25.7
2009 - 26.2
2010 - 26.6
2011 - 26.9
2012 - 27.2
* Class sizes in Reception and Years 1 and 2 are legally limited to 30 students per teacher. Schools are only allowed to breach these limits in certain circumstances.
Source: Department for Education, 2012.
You've reached your limit of free articles this month. Subscribe for £1 per month for three months and get: