Liberal Democrats: Parents face disappointment as south west Sheffield secondary schools become oversubscribed

Secondary schools in south west Sheffield are facing a decade of being oversubscribed and two could potentially expand to cope with demand.

Silverdale and King Ecgbert are in ongoing negotiations with Sheffield Council but nothing has been confirmed.

It’s due to a 25 per cent rise in birth rates in Sheffield between 2002 and 2012 but Liberal Democrat councillors have criticised the way Labour has handled the problem.

Sheffield Council needs to do more say Lib Dems

Councillor Mohammed Mahroof, Lib Dem education spokesman, said some children living within the catchment area wouldn’t be able to get a place at their local school.

“We had an idea of these numbers and discrepancies before, but this is the first time in a long while that we have seen the numbers across Sheffield in one document.

“The numbers show that the council has not kept up with population movements and that they need to do more to deal with this.

MORE EDUCATION : Two Sheffield schools could expand as city struggles with rising demand for pupil places

“We have many excellent schools in our city, but an increasing number of parents are going to be disappointed when they can’t get their child into their local school.

“The council is finally now talking about getting some expansion work done on secondary schools in the south west but they need to go further and faster.

"We need to be ahead of these issues if we are to provide every child with a place in a good, local school.”

Coun Mahroof also said there would be an environmental and economic impact if parents had to drive their children to school or pay bus fares.

MORE EDUCATION: Sheffield education: Secondary schools need an extra 300 places for SEND pupils

Three new schools already built says Labour

Sheffield Council said it had proactively worked with head teachers across the city to increase admission numbers to manage the demand.

It has also commissioned three new schools – Astrea Academy at Burngreave, Oasis Academy in Don Valley and Mercia School at Ecclesall.

Councillor Jayne Dunn, executive member for education, said: “There is a need to assess the impact of the new schools in the city by understanding pupil migration patterns, catchment data and preference patterns before further demand can be assessed. This information can take up to three years to establish.

“Local demand for places in the south west is expected to be sustained until the end of the decade, unlike other localities in the city.

“It should be noted also that schools in the south west are always oversubscribed and attract applications from all over the city which is an indication of their popularity.

“For stability and sustainability, we want to plan for peak times but also think about how we use accommodation and plan for times when demand decreases.

“We are looking at options to address this continued demand in the south west however, any solutions to this pressure needs to be balanced against the falling numbers in other parts of this city.

“Creating any oversupply by building more new schools could be unsustainable in the future and negatively impact on existing well established schools.”