School places pressure mounts on offer day
Tuesday 1 March marks National Offer Day, where more than half a million families will discover where their children will attend secondary school in September.
However, despite the Department for Education (DfE) investing ‘billions of pounds creating new schools and new school places’, the growing population and increase in pupil numbers has left tougher competition for the most sought after secondary schools.
Figures from the latest pupil projection statistics show that last year councils had to provide 2,740,000 secondary school places, which is predicted to increase significantly to 3,387,000 by 2024.
The New Schools Network has published research which highlights that choice and configuration often limit parents – particularly those who do not want to send their children to faith schools.
The study claims that a ‘majority of the best schools on offer are faith-based schools’, leaving a lack of ‘non-religious alternatives’.
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