London Councils warns of shortfall in school places
Shafik Meghji
Friday, April 17, 2009
Local authorities in London need an extra 740m to guarantee every five-year-old a school place over the next five years, an organisation representing the boroughs has warned.
The capital faces a shortfall in reception places of more than 18,300 by 2014 because of the "large and unexpected" growth of the birth rate in the city, which has risen 20.5 percent since 2001/02, it said.
Three-quarters of London's 33 councils are using unsatisfactory temporary classrooms, have resorted to increasing class sizes, or acknowledge they will be facing problems within two to three years.
London Councils said the situation had been made worse by the recession, with fewer parents opting to pay for private school places.
Councillor James Kempton, the organisation's executive member for children and young people, said: "Temporary classrooms and expanded classes are simply not good enough, but London's boroughs are being forced into a position where these are our only option to provide places for the capital's five-year-olds.
"We urgently need the government to bring forward emergency funding to cover the current and expected demand for places, as well as change the way we are funded to prevent a situation like this occurring again."
