There will be almost a 1,000 empty places in September
(Image: Matthew Horwood / Media Wales)
Bristol’s primary schools are bracing for a second consecutive year of nearly a thousand empty Reception class places this September, due to a declining birthrate and families with young children leaving the city. This trend is sparking fears of budget cuts, job losses, and potential school closures across Bristol. Bristol Live readers are not surprised, blaming the cost of housing in Bristol.
Bristol City Council has released new detailed data for this September’s intake of four year olds starting school for the first time in just a few weeks. Despite Bristol’s population reaching over half a million for the first time last month, the data reveals a continuing decline in school-age children.
The total number of four year olds starting school in Bristol this September is 4,534, while the combined capacity of all the Reception classes across the city’s 98 primary schools is 5,480. This means there will be 946 empty spaces across Bristol come September.
This under-subscription is not new, last September, Bristol Live reported that there were 970 surplus places across the city, which raised concerns that some schools might have to close or merge.
Education chiefs at the city council have stated they will collaborate with schools to manage the decreasing numbers and last year, Bristol City Council’s Schools Forum initiated a public consultation on how to handle this decline.
A report from the Schools Forum last year stated: “Permanent closure of schools and the disposal of their assets should be avoided, but in some cases this decision may be unavoidable. For communities, the closure of a local school can be extremely damaging and have a long-lasting impact.
“Children are forced to travel further from home, increasing the number of car journeys and contributing to poorer air quality. It can also damage a child’s sense of belonging to their local community and negatively impact their life chances.”
Commenter Madvoice77 says: “Of course families are leaving Bristol, so many family-sized houses are now taken out by letting agents for students, none of whom contribute to the local taxes. City crime is getting worse, it’s not a nice place anymore and sad to see.”
Redcoat asks: “Can’t they use the drop in numbers to the children’s advantage and give them more one to one help? Classes of 30 children is never the best way to educate, it’s just the cheapest.”
Othermeinnit points out: “School numbers have always fluctuated, the most important thing is not to assume the drop is permanent and then build flats on any unused sites, making the next bulge more difficult to accommodate. Use the spaces as a community centre in the meantime.”
BS8GR8 writes: “The decline in primary school age children in Bristol has a lot to do with Tory austerity, continued by Labour with the two-child benefit cap being a major factor. Equally, house price affordability is one of the worst in the country with private rental HMO lacking any control driving up prices to buy and rent. No doubt the usual people will blame students / immigrants whereas purpose built student accommodation actually takes the pressure of the demand for other rental properties and immigrants actually contribute more to the countries GDP via tax and national insurance than they “cost” in benefits or through use of public services. Indeed many of our care homes, hospitals and schools could not operate without them.”
Banksstuart2 agrees: “Many young couples cannot afford to have a child or more children. Cannot afford the huge mortgage on a family home to start a family. Only the wealthy on joint salaries can afford to buy when affordable housing to buy and accommodation for rent is not profitable to build unless purchased by private owners to sell on or rent out as HMOs.”
Asmodeus adds: “Inflated house prices and the lack of good, affordable rented properties have played a big role toward young couples and first time buyers moving out of Bristol in search of homes. The ageing of the population has been known about for decades. No government, whichever party, has a policy solution for it.”
HoneyD writes: “People can’t afford to live here let alone have children. People who should be starting families are living extended teenage lives in house shares. Even couples are earning way below the wage needed to live a functional adult life in such an expensive city.”
Do you think the Bristol population is decreasing? What do you see as the solution? Have your say in our comments section.