School places - shortage in our villages

I had a meeting last week with officers at the County about the increasing problem of insufficient places at our local village schools to cope with demand. This seems to be a real issue this year, and as well as trying to help local parents who have contacted me for advice, I want to work with officers to find a proper solution rather than just deal with the individual cases. 

By way of setting out how much of a problem this is, Whittlesford is turning away children with siblings already at the school, Duxford is running a 35 child intake rather than the usual 30 (because the school has a teaching assistant with the right qualifications), the Bellbird in Sawston is filling up despite having new classrooms built, and schools like Thriplow which used to be very small are now full. Although the case has now been resolved, one child was going to be taken by taxi to Linton, while another child might have to travel to Fowlmere, in the opposite direction to an older sibling. 

I was pleased that officers from the county including the admissions manager attended a parish council meeting this

week and a sensible discussion took place with local school heads and residents.

For working mothers, getting one child to one school and the other child to another ten miles away is a logistical nightmare.

The discussion I had with officers focussed on identifying which schools had the land and the right location to build further classrooms, because for some schools in the centre of a village just adding to the traffic isn't going to help. All this though takes time - budgets have to be bid for, planning permission secured, the buildings built, and of course the extra teachers have to be found and paid for too. It may be that we have to seriously consider portakabins- hot in summer and cold in winter - but at least they can be put in quickly.