Warning over ‘looming secondary school place squeeze’

A potential shortage of school places looms ahead in secondary schools in England, councils are warning.The Local Government Association says schools will be thousands of places short over the next few years as a population bulge moves up from primary. It says schools in 12 councils will be over capacity by 2018, rising to nearly half of councils within five years.

But the Department for Education attacked the figures as “thoroughly misleading”.This is the sixth year in a row that town hall bosses, who are responsible for ensuring sufficient places, have warned of a future squeeze. This time, the LGA says schools could be nearly 8,000 places short by September 2018 and 125,000 short by 2022. Read more