ALMOST 7,000 applications for school places in the middle of the academic year were made to Bradford Council last year, with just under 1,000 from families new to the UK.

One teaching union said the figures, revealed in report looking at school admissions over the last 12 months, highlight one of the biggest issues Bradford faces.

Of the 6,911 'in year' applications made in the last year, 979 - or 14 per cent - were for students who had just moved to the country.

The highest proportion - 19 per cent - were from families moving house within Bradford. And 738 - or 10.6 per cent - were from families moving to Bradford from elsewhere in the country. Eight per cent - or 564 - applicants - needed a new place due to issues with a previous school.

Of the total, around 70 per cent were for primary school places.

The local authority has to provide a school place to a pupil within 20 school days of them applying, and the local authority report says the number of applicants regularly puts pressure on resources.

Many schools do not have the space to take in year admissions.

The only secondary schools with any capacity for in year applicants are Belle Vue Boys in Heaton, Carlton Bolling College in Undercliffe, Hanson School in Swain House, Oakbank School in Keighley, Queensbury High School, Samuel Lister Academy in Cottingley, Tong High School and the University Academy in Keighley.

The Bradford spokesman for the National Union of Teachers, Ian Murch, said: "If anyone wanted to understand why Bradford doesn't appear to make progress in its schools, then you just need to see these figures.

"I don't think you'd find any other local authority, except maybe Birmingham, with this high a number of children arriving from other countries during the school year.

"At the start of the school year, teachers don't know how many desks they will need for that year."

"If you suddenly get an influx of two or three families with lots of children it can be a big issue for schools.

"It is important schools have a service for dealing with pupils new to the country and new to English. A lot of the newer arrivals are coming from places teachers have no experience of, like Syria or Somalia.

"This is an important issue, and will determine the future of Bradford."

Pam Milner, the Bradford representative for the NASUWT union, said: "You would expect people to move homes and to for some families to move school because they are not satisfied with their place, but this shows that an extra 1,000 spaces have to be found too. There just isn't the capacity in some schools.

"If you get children coming in without any English then it is going to affect the achievement of that school, especially if they join in a year they are sitting exams."

But Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, the executive member for Children's Services on the Council, said it was possible for pupils who were new to English to achieve good results.

"Undoubtedly it is a challenge and teachers have my full respect for the work they do. In spite of these challenges children who are new to English can and do make outstanding progress," she said.

"The recent outstanding judgement from Horton Grange Primary for example, was clear that children who enter and leave the school part way through the year, sometimes with little or no English make outstanding progress during their time at the school."

The report is being discussed by the council's Children's Services Scrutiny Committee at City Hall tomorrow.