A Government report says Sheffield needs to create nearly 1,000 new school places to meet demand by 2025, at a cost of up to £23m.
The Department for Education has set out how what every local authority will need to do to give every child a seat in a classroom within the next two years.
The ‘scorecards’ published today (June 30) estimate Sheffield will need 390 additional primary school places to meet demand in the 2024/2025 academic year, as well as 580 secondary places.
And, these figures don’t include the 535 new secondary school places the city hopes to create with ongoing projects by 2024/25. Meanwhile, there are currently no projects underway to create new primary school places.
However, the DfE also reports the cost of creating even a single new place for a secondary school in the Steel City can be up to £25,567, and £21,105 for primary schools. The cost of permanently expanding existing schools is not much cheaper. It means Sheffield’s local authority and academic trusts would need to come up with as much as £23,059,810 of funding to meet demands.
It puts pressure on the council to create new school places by building their own state-maintained schools, expanding existing schools or welcoming Multi-Academic Trust proposals to do the same.
The DfE between 2011 and 2025 it will have allocated a total of £146m to Sheffield City Council to create new school places. As many as 9,731 new secondary and primary school places have been created in the city since 2009.
Figures previously published by The Star already show how, for the 2022/23 academic year, only 18 out of Sheffield 121 schools were not oversubscribed, with as many as three children vying for every seat in the classroom and the most in-demand schools.
In fact, some schools were in the position where they had to turn away more children than they accepted once the local authority had made its allocations.
Oversubscribed schools happen when there are more parents applying for places than are available, leading to a waiting list in case those places fall through.
Because parents get to apply for three preferences when trying to get an education for their little ones, it can lead to cases like Loxley Primary School, which only had 30 places to give out but had 143 children vying for them.
Seven schools in the city were oversubscribed by 200 per cent, meaning for every seat in the classroom, at least three children were trying to get in.
For the upcoming 2023/24 academic year, 98 per cent of primary age students received a place at one of their three preferred schools.
Below is a list of Sheffield’s most oversubscribed schools for the 2022/23 academic year, according to a Freedom of Information request by The Star, ranked from those with severe waiting lists relative to how many places they have to give out.
1. Most oversubscribed schools in Sheffield as city told it needs 1,000 more places
While Sheffield has been told it will need 1,000 new school places to meet demand by 2024/25, here were the most oversubscribed primary schools in the area for the 2022/23 academic year. Photo: Alastair Ulke
2. Loxley Primary School
Loxley Primary School was the most oversubscribed school in Sheffield at 376 per cent. They had 30 places to give away for the 2022/23 academic year, and had 143 children apply for them. Photo: Google Maps
3. Anns Grove Primary School
Anns Grove Primary Schoo was the 2nd most oversubscribed school in Sheffield at 262 per cent. They had 45 places to give away for the 2022/23 academic year, and had 163 children apply for them. Photo: Google
4. Broomhill Infant School
Broomhill Infant School was the 3rd most oversubscribed school in Sheffield at 317 per cent. They had 40 places to give away for the 2022/23 academic year, and had 167 children apply for them. Photo: Google