Get set for the Walton school places race

As the mad scramble for places hots up, Walton schools continue to be a victim of their own success.

 

Parents and guardians will be able to apply online for a September 2011 school place from next Wednesday (September 1) with the closing date for infant, junior and primary schools on January 15 2011.

 

Details of school admissions are then sent to parents across the county in the Spring. As in most years, predictions are already being made that many parents will once again be left disappointed and have to contact Surrey County Council’s contact centre.

 

If your child does not get allocated a place at a school you prefer, it’s worth making a note of the council’s school admission appeal pages to find more information about making an appeal.

 

Many parents are likely to find themselves going through this process. This year, the county council received 427 more applications for primary school places compared to last year – equivalent to 14 classes, so enough pupils to fill two primary schools. In Walton, this related to roughly an entire of class of children initially left without a primary school place.

 

Surrey needs to find an extra 6,000 places in primary and secondary schools during the next four years because of an increasing birth rate.

 

At primary level in Walton, it had been hoped that the issue had been tackled by the building Walton Oak School which in 2007 brought two schools onto one state of the art site in Ambleside Avenue. However, while work for the new school was progressing, figures show the county’s birth rate grew by 20 per cent between 2002 and 2008.

 

The council has got a 5.2 per cent grant increase to cover the cost of teachers, other staff and books. Although the county wasn’t in the Building Schools for the Future programme axed by Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove earlier in the summer, it still has a major issue when it comes to finding classrooms to actually teach children in. County Hall will have to borrow an extra £145m for more classrooms and schools during the next four years.

 

Cllr Peter Martin, the county council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Learning, said: “To build two new primary schools to house 427 children would cost us £11m. This shows the severe strain the economic downturn and a booming birth rate are putting on education in Surrey when many of our schools are already full to bursting.

 

“Over the next four years we have to create 6,000 places in our primaries and secondaries and continue to educate some 3,500 children from outside Surrey attracted by our high-quality schools.

 

“It is great news that we’ve got a five per cent cash increase to cover teaching and books. But it is hugely disappointing that there isn’t similar extra support for capital funding for the classrooms and schools we are crying out for.

 

“The consequence of this is we’ll have to borrow £145m at a time of rising demand for services and future sharp cuts in funding.”