Head teachers across Stroud district express concerns over school places and 'frustrating', 'crazy' and 'long-winding' appeals process

While not all schools have issues with school places, with either bursting pupil numbers or lax class sizes, there remain concerns over their allocation.

Some head teachers in Stroud district stressed that the appeals process – a system which parents can apply through to place their child at their chosen school – can be frustrating and drawn-out for both parties.

With natural population growth schools are often forced to expand to match pace, with some such as Rednock in Dursley confident that they can walk the fine line.

“In recent years, Rednock School has seen an increase in student numbers,” said head teacher David Alexander (pictured below).

“As well as the young people we serve in Dursley, parents are choosing to send their children here from as far afield as central Gloucester, Frampton, Whitminster and North Bristol.

“Rednock is fortunate enough to have modern facilities and excellent transport links. “We expect that we will continue to grow in line with rising numbers of young people in surrounding areas.”

As it stands there are 6,563 allocated spaces in Gloucestershire with Stroud district second out of the six areas, behind Gloucester (1,484) with 1,195.

Plans are underway for a £30 million new school in Cheltenham to plug a shortage in school places, though there are no such plans for Stroud district.

This could change once work begins on some of the district’s several large housing developments such as the total 647 homes planned for Box Road in Cam and the 1,350 homes approved for land west of Stonehouse – or Westington.

Cllr Richard Boyles, cabinet member for children and young people at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “We have a responsibility to make sure that there are enough school places in the county.

“In Gloucestershire we have a good track record of planning school places and work closely with schools to make sure our young people have the best opportunities possible.

“Our forecasting shows that there will be increased demand for school places in the Stroud district going forward. With more housing planned in Stonehouse, Dursley and Cam we will be asking developers for S106 funding to help meet this demand.”

Section 106 funding usually applies for large housing developments in which the local authority cooperates with the developer to tack on further community infrastructure improvements such as money for schools, hospitals, libraries and car parks.

In April the Stroud News & Journal covered the story of father-of-four Nicolas Heaton, who had recently moved to Ebley, but had problems getting his three young daughters into primary schools.

Gloucestershire County Council has been allocated £85.1 million in basic need funding allocations for the period 2011 to 2020 to create new school places, and has created 3,339 places between 2010 and 2016.

After contacting around a third of the 60 schools in Stroud district, the debate on school places was clearly inconsistent, but the issue was clearly at the forefront of discussions among staff.

Richard Johnson (pictured above) head teacher of Severn Vale School in Quedgeley, stated that the new university technical college in Berkeley Green would relieve the pressure in its catchment area, but has concerns about the current appeals process.

“We are at full capacity and actually slightly over full, and we have been for the last couple years” he said.

“There is a lot of pressure on us, people are often able to place their children at the school through appeal but this also puts children at a real disadvantage.

“When pupils are placed through appeal it doesn’t allow us to invite the parents and children into the school to meet with staff and fellow pupils to see how they like it.

“The system is far too cumbersome and there needs to be a difficult at that.

“It’s crazy and it is hard to make it clear that there are real concerns, it can be a very frustrating process for both the parents and for admins at the school.”

Several primary schools in the district are either completely full or close to full capacity, including Blue Coat, Cashes Green, Chalford Hill, Foxmoor, Slimbridge and Minchinhampton.

“People often apply and are then approved through the appeals system,” said school manager and admissions officer at Foxmoor Primary, Theresa Montague (pictured below with Alex Moss, Emily Croot, Molly Bishop and Josh Phillips, all aged eight).

“I have calls every day from parents wanting to place their children here and face the difficult conversation of telling them we are full.

“It is a very longwinded process it is such a reoccurring issue, it often leaves some schools with too many pupils while others will still have some with space to spare.”

After a query from Stroud MP David Drew in parliament earlier this month about plans to bring in additional places, the minister of state for education Nick Gibb stated that: “Supporting local authorities to create sufficient school places is one of the Government’s top priorities.

“Since 2015 we have committed £5.8 billion to deliver new school places.”

Head teacher at Minchinhampton Primary Academy Nick Moss shed some light on some of the causes of school place issues.

He has noticed that problems arise not with Year 7 entries but when families move to an area with children who need to be placed in older year groups.

“It is migration to the area which creates the issue, we rarely have issues with reception classes or Year 7, it’s in older classes where we see the impact,” said Nick.

“There has been no major difference this year, although we are at full capacity.

“When people move in to the area and naturally would like to send their children to the best school and they are already of school age and up, that’s when we get the pressure.

“The appeals process takes up a lot of admin time and it is also a lot to go through for the parents, it’s all more pressure.”

Head teacher at Slimbridge Primary Alison Cooke has said that the appeals process is ‘long-winded’ and involves a lot of paper work for all parties.

“It does take a lot of time from everyone involved to gather all the information required, and if someone has just moved to the area things like proof of address can be complicated to get hold of.

“We are at full capacity in this area, but the local authority has made sure that we can take on all the children we need to and made sure there is a place for everyone.”