Education Council plan to shrink schools 'flies in the face of logic'

SCHOOLS will shrink and have fewer classes in a part of Bristol where 2,400 homes are going to be built. As part of a new plan to make sure schools have the right number of places, there will soon be fewer classes despite local councillors predicting an increase in children.

- Alex SEABROOK Local democracy reporter [e-mail]

Bristol's birth rate has been plummeting for almost a decade, causing a crisis in school finances. Schools get funded per pupil; so with fewer children headteachers have less money to hire teachers and maintain school buildings.

To avoid schools being forced to close, Bristol City Council is trying to coordinate the reduction in enrolment figures across the city. Larger schools will be asked to bear the brunt of the fewer numbers, reducing how many classes they have in each year group, protecting smaller schools.

The strategy was approved by councillors on the children and young people policy committee. But they first heard from a local councillor who questioned the statistics.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Tim Kent, representing Hengrove and Whitchurch Park, said the plan to reduce primary school places in his ward "flies in the face of logic".