Last updated 15:53, Wednesday, 30 April 2008

MORE than 97 per cent of Cumbrian children starting school in September got into their first choice primary, new figures show.

Cumbria County Council received 4,846 applications for primary school places with 4,722 being successful in winning a place at their first-choice school.

But local authority leaders have warned that the high success rate is because Cumbrian primary schools have so many surplus places.

It is one of several key issues that they plan to tackle as part of a massive shake-up of primary education.

A 15-year plan which could see up to £150 million spent on improving children’s services and education is out to consultation with schools, headteachers and governors.

The strategy for Cumbria’s Primary Schools also hopes to tap into around £15 million of Government money that can be spent on improving school buildings in the next few years.

Coun Jim Buchanan, Cumbria County Council’s lead member on children’s services, said primary and infant schools in the county have excellent standards and said it was “great” for parents who had been successful in getting a first-choice place. But he warned: “There is a flip side to our above-average success rate on first choice applications.

“The reason why so many parents can send their children to their first-choice school is because of the number of surplus places we have in the system.

“Too many surplus places are not good news for anyone – schools are funded according to pupil numbers, the modern curriculum requires a wider range of skills and subjects to be taught, and pupils themselves are shown to thrive when they’re not rattling around an empty classroom.

“This is something that we’ll be looking at in drawing up a new 15-year strategy for primary schools and we’re talking to schools, governors, parents and pupils themselves in how we do this.

“We hope that this will strike the right balance in offering choice and at the same time not having empty classrooms.”

There are currently 4,534 surplus places in Cumbria’s 279 primary schools. This figure is expected to rise to more than 8,000 within five years.

Those drawing up plans for primary school changes have not ruled out closures but it has been stated that action must be taken to ensure that no school has 25 per cent surplus places.

There are currently 20 schools in that situation, a figure that could go up to 35 within five years.

The National Association for Small Schools (NASS) is calling on the county council’s primary school strategy to be scrapped.

The NASS says it implies that there will be widespread closures.

It also criticises the timing of the consultation and says there is a lack of information in the document.

The strategy document was circulated to schools just before the recent Easter break when responses have to be submitted by April 30.

It suggests schools should open up buildings for more community use and that more all-through primaries should be created.