Middle class parents “dismiss” private school

The growing number of middle-class parents who cannot afford to move house or pay private school fee creates a places crisis in state schools, The Daily Telegraph quotes a Watchdog’s warning.

According to the Audit Commission (AC), increasing demand for state school places during the economic downturn means some state schools will have to resort to teaching pupils in temporary classrooms.

The commission, which monitors council services, discloses the pressure on state schools in a report assessing the way councils are responding to the recession.

The report says 34 per cent of councils are reporting increased demand for school places. Another 34 per cent of councils are anticipating higher demand in the months ahead.

However in last December, the commission found that only 9 per cent of councils had experienced increased demand.

“There is evidence of behaviour change due to the recession: children moving from private to state sector schools,” the AC said.

“This has partly been driven by rising unemployment, but may also be linked to the slowdown of the property market halting a common practice of young families moving out of central urban areas as the children reach school age.

Other UK publications like the Daily Mail also wrote similar issue on 16 July, saying primary schools are facing a crisis over places because of the recession.

Laura Clark wrote that hundreds of four and five-year-olds yet to be allocated to a school just weeks before the new term starts, while thousands will have to be bussed to primaries miles from their home.

One in five councils is reporting increased pressure on places, while complaints about admissions have risen 50 per cent to record high.

Back to The Daily Telegraph, Steve Bundred, the chief executive of the AC says that the surge in demand for states school places would leave some children being educated in temporary structures.

He says: “Councils will need to provide the places that are demanded and in some places, that will mean temporary classrooms,” he said. “There will be practical difficulties providing all the places that are demanded.

However, the Department of Children, Schools and Families questioned the commission’s claims, saying that “We are not getting a national picture that pupils are being pulled out of private schools and placing additional demands on the state sector for schools places, but it is too early to tell what the long-term impact of the recession will be.”

Ed Balls, the School Secretary, last month announced an extra £200 million for councils to provide more primary places, but council leaders say that is not enough.