Primary schools in Bristol area set to reduce class sizes
It's despite plans for thousands of new homes
Schools will shrink and have fewer classes in a part of Bristol where 2,400 homes are going to be built.
As part of a new plan to make sure schools have sufficient places, there will soon be fewer classes despite local councillors predicting that the population of children will spike.
Bristol’s birth rate has been plummeting for almost a decade, causing a crisis in school finances.
Schools get funded per pupil, and with fewer children applying for places, that means headteachers get less money to hire teachers and maintain school buildings.
To avoid schools being forced to close, Bristol City Council is trying to coordinate the reduction in enrolment figures across the city.
Larger schools will be asked to bear the brunt of the fewer numbers, reducing how many classes they have in each year group, protecting smaller schools.
The strategy was approved by councillors on the children and young people policy committee on Thursday, November 27.
But they first heard from a local councillor who questioned the statistics. Liberal Democrat Councillor Tim Kent, representing Hengrove and Whitchurch Park, said the plan to reduce primary school places in his ward “flies in the face of logic”.
He added: “We know the local area will be seeing massive development of new homes over the next few years, and families from across Bristol will be moving into these and wanting to send their children to local schools. Yet, the council is recommending the ward loses two classes.
“While the report identifies that, overall, Bristol will see a decline in the number of school-aged children, it completely fails to recognise the situation on the ground in the city’s local communities. I know my area is only going to see an increasing demand for school places in the coming years.
“It is crucial that capacity is maintained so that families in the area can send their children to their local school. With over 2,400 new homes planned for the ward over the next 10 years, Hengrove and Whitchurch Park is likely to run out of primary school places by 2032. With the recommended class closures, I fear that we will reach our capacity as soon as 2029.”
The area includes the huge Hengrove Park housing development, where Goram Homes, the council-owned developer, is building 1,435 new homes. There is also an ageing population, and so large and relatively cheap houses are gradually being sold, and young families moving in.
The neighbourhood also bucks the trend with its birth rate staying stable rather than falling like elsewhere. Around 500 people petitioned against the plan, and the committee was split on approving it. Greens voted in favour, while councillors from other parties abstained on the vote.
Green Cllr Christine Townsend, chair of the children’s committee, said: “It’s based on what’s happened in the past, because forecasts are best guess data. It’s not possible for us to say there will be x number of children and families definitely applying for a reception place in these particular schools for September 2027. The numbers will be updated on an annual basis.”
The estimates of how many places will be needed are based on the number of new homes with planning permission, as well as local migration data and the number of recent births. The strategy is “putting an emphasis on flexibility”, according to council staff, so any reductions in the number of classes could easily be reversed if needed later down the line.
Complicating the problem is that the council only controls a quarter of primaries in Bristol. So while the strategy tries to coordinate reductions across the city, some decisions will be taken by academy bosses or faith schools instead. But there is no current plan to close any schools.
Cllr Townsend added: “It is absolutely not the intention of this local authority to close any small schools. We want to work with the academies and dioceses so that we can manage numbers and schools can remain financially viable, while there is a need to reduce the number of places.”
Of the roughly 100 primary schools in Bristol, two thirds are undersubscribed. There could be 34 surplus classes by 2030, if no action is taken. The strategy aims to get primary schools to remove around 18 classes altogether, over the next three years. Last year, demand for secondary school places peaked, and is now expected to fall.
One unintended consequence of shrinking schools could potentially be that pupils have further to travel, with more parents driving their children to school. A common complaint of parents is either that there are too many cars driving near their children’s school, creating a road safety hazard, or that driving to their school takes too long, because of congested traffic.
Only half of children walk to school in Bristol at the moment. And smaller schools means that getting a place where parents would prefer could become harder, forcing pupils to enrol in schools further from home. Individual schools will consult with parents about potentially losing a class and shrinking in size, and these consultations will consider how far pupils have to travel.
Falling birth rates have been linked to the rapidly rising cost of housing in cities such as Bristol, as families move to cheaper places to raise their children. The high cost of childcare is another factor, putting off potential parents from having children.