More than half of all primary schools in Sunderland have a major surplus of pupil places which could lead to a huge re-organistion of education in the city.
Some 48 of the 83 primary schools are operating with gaps in their roll above the Government's recommended 10 per cent.
And, worryingly, 17 have more than 25 per cent surplus places in their school, the cut off amount in which the Government dema
nds action.
This is predicted to increase to 24 by 2013 if nothing is done to correct the problems.
Pupil numbers in the city have fallen from 23,965 in 2003 to 20,693 in 2008 – a drop of 3,272 pupils
Moves to reduce surplus places over the years have included schools being amalgamated into one and old school's being rebuilt, but with smaller buildings, such as the ones currently being built for Hetton Lyons Primary and Southwick Primary.
Another idea for using the surplus space in schools could in some cases involve having other agencies based there, such as health visitors or school nurses, to use spare accomodation.
Norma Hardy, head of performance, improvement and planning in Children's Services at the City of Sunderland Council, is stressing the authority has not made any decisions and through the consultation stage wants parents to put forward their views and ideas about possible changes.
The city has been divided into 16 cluster areas and every parent has been invited to a consultation night in their area over the coming week to give them an insight into the seriousness of the situation.
Five meetings were held last night and at Monkwearmouth cluster area parents were told their schools will almost certainly be hit.
The six schools in the cluster area have an overall total surplus of 24 per cent, with 38 per cent of places going spare at Seaburn Dene Primary, 31 per cent at Dame Dorothy Primary, 34 per cent at Grange Park Primary, 21 per cent at Redby Primary, 16 per cent at Fulwell Infant School and 10 per cent at Fulwell Junior School.
Norma Hardy told the parents at Monkwearmouth the authority has launched School Place Planning for the Future to address the problem now.
The project aims to plan for the future, make sure there are enough school places in the right areas, make sure there are enough places for every child or every ability and to make sure as many of the city's primary schools as possible meet 21st century teaching needs.
She said in Monkwearmouth for example something needs to be done about Fulwell Junior School building, which is almost 100 years old.
She said: "There has been a falling birth rate for a number of years.
We have reduced surplus places, but the birth rates are continuing to fall, so the number of surplus places is staying the same."
Following this consultation exercise education chiefs will compile a report to go before cabinet members in June.
In September or November there will be another round of consultation meetings to put the options before parents and give them the opportunity to respond and the following month finals proposals will be drafted.
As well as embarking on the School Place Planning for the Future project, the City of Sunderland Council is also taking part in the Government's Primary Strategy for Change.
The aim is that this national programme will run for 14 years and rebuild, remodel or refurbish about half the primary schools in the UK.
The authority needs to have a draft strategy for this prepared and sent to the Department of Children, Schools and Families by June 16 and if successful would be allocated more than £10million to spend on schools over two years.
The full article contains 625 words and appears in Sunderland Echo newspaper.
