A BRADFORD MP has pleaded for urgent government funding to help Bradford's schools deal with large numbers of pupils who move schools in the middle of term.

Almost 2,000 pupils have either joined new schools or changed schools in the district between the start of the school year in September and the end of last month.

The local spokesman for the National Union of Teachers said Bradford was facing a "crisis," and more money was needed to prevent the issue from relegating local schools to the bottom of league tables.

Bradford East MP David Ward has raised the issue with ministers in the Department for Education, calling for more funding to help prevent these pupils from falling behind. He said many of these pupils lived "transitory" lives, and may move schools after only short periods.

Between September and mid November, there were 1,950 "in year" applications for school places in the district.

Although the government has promised an "emergency" fund to deal with the issue in its next referendum, Mr Ward has called for faster action.

Of the 1,344 mid-year applications for primary school places, 238 were from pupils who had just moved to the UK. Of the 607 secondary school places, 153 were from new to UK families.

Mr Ward said the issue was not just down to immigration, but also to families moving around the district to find cheaper housing.

He said: “Whilst Bradfordians are very welcoming to new arrivals, having such large in-year admissions places significant pressures on schools as pupils tend to need extra support to catch up."

Ian Murch, Bradford spokesman for the National Union of Teachers, said: "This is a really big problem in Bradford, which has a lot more children of migrants in it than most local authorities, and they don't always arrive here to start school at the end of the summer holidays.

"Some schools are getting 50 children joining during the course of the year.

"You have to be careful about calling something a crisis, but this is a crisis in Bradford and a lot of schools don't have the infrastructure to cope."

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive for children's services on the council, said the coalition government had ended powers for local authorities to provide extra funding for newly arrived children. He added: "The issue is the number of people constantly moving school and it is something we have to manage."

He said families forced to move because of bedroom tax also led to children changing schools.

School Minister David Laws said the Government had allowed local authorities to use a funding formula to target extra funding at schools with more pupils entering in-year. He said Bradford Council allocated nearly £1 million in 2014-15 to schools that experienced high in-year fluctuations in pupil numbers.

Whetley Primary Academy is one Bradford school that has coped with the issue better than than most, with pupils of Pakistani and Roma background doing better than average nationally.

Headteacher Patricia Gavins said: "Sometimes pupils won't qualify for a pupil premium grant if they arrive after the school census or if they leave before the end of the year.

"But a lot of pupils from these backgrounds in our schools are making great progress. We've learned lessons about how to deal with the issue."

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