School places reduced due to falling birth rates

Three Bradford primary schools are to take on fewer pupils due to falling birth rates.

All Saints C of E Primary School in Ilkley and Ley Top Primary School in Allerton will halve their reception intake from 60 to 30 from next year.

St Matthew's C of E Primary School in West Bowling will have a maximum of 45 new pupils instead of 60, with the move for the three schools approved following a public consultation.

A meeting of Bradford Council's executive heard there were 1,000 fewer births in the borough in 2023 than in 2015, according to the latest available Office for National Statistics data.

The data showed the total number of UK live births in 2023 was the lowest since 1977.

All Saints in Ilkley increased its intake from 45 to 60 in 2018 due to a rise in pupil numbers, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A report to the local authority's executive said that while there were 60 pupils in reception one year, some years have seen fewer than 40 new pupils.

Figures show there were 41 reception pupils on its roll in October.

Funding received by schools is directly related to pupil numbers, the report said, with vacancies meaning a school does not receive the maximum possible funding.

"Over 40 primary schools and academies have consulted to reduce pupil admission numbers in recent years," it said.

"There are significantly more school places available in each area [of Bradford] than there are younger children living there and requiring these places in the coming years."

There are currently 43 pupils in reception at Ley Top and St Matthew's is expected to fill 36 of its 60 reception places in September.

The report said the estimated pupil numbers for the coming years take into account housing developments in the areas surrounding the schools.

Several responses to the All Saints proposal suggested reducing the intake to 45 rather than 30 – the same level the school had before 2018.

The council responded: "The decline in the birth rate is so stark that the size of the cohorts due to start reception in the coming years are significantly smaller than those entering school before the previous expansion programme.

"It is therefore not a simple case of resetting things to how they were before."

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