Council decision to reduce admission numbers at Low Ash Primary is blocked

The authority had planned to expand the number of children Low Ash Primary School took on each year from 60 to 90.

Officers said the expansion was needed due to the large number of housing developments being built near the Wrose school.

The new admission numbers were due to come into play in September, but earlier this year the Council back tracked on the plans, saying delays to the housing developments meant the extra places were not needed.

The authority approved plans to reduce the admissions number back to 60, claiming that keeping the higher admission number without the extra children would impact negatively on other local schools.

But now that decision has been blocked by the Office of the School's Adjudicator - who revealed that 77 families had listed Low Ash as their first choice school for their children to attend this September.

They said such a late change in admission numbers would only be justified by a "significant" event, such as part of the school burning down.

A report into the proposals says the school's governors had supported the reduction, but "they were disappointed that the proposal was made at such a late stage in the admission year."

Shipley MP Philip Davies and Councillor Debbie Davies (Cons, Baildon) had raised concerns about the late change to the admission numbers, with the report saying: "Their reasons include: the investment already made into the expansion of the school by the local authority; the reputation of the council if it were to make this change at this stage; the lessons to be learnt about place planning; and that “parental preference should be a crucial factor in considering this proposal.”

They added: "To reduce the PAN at this stage of the admission year against a background of a high level of preferences would require significant justification, such as part of the school having burnt down.

"The request to lower the number was made when parents had already stated their preferences and there were 77 first preferences.

"This means that more than 60 parents had made the school their first preference. The change in circumstances is not sufficient reason to deny the parental preferences made at this point in the admissions year. I do not approve the variation."

Councillor Debbie Davies, Conservative spokesman for education, said: "This mess could have been easily avoided with some forward-thinking – I think it shows poor leadership and poor judgement. I’d like to know what happens now as we were told that the situation would be reviewed after the Schools Adjudicator report was published. I’d also like to know what lessons have been learned from this fiasco and an assurance that the same mistakes aren’t made again in future years.”

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: "We’re disappointed that the Office of the Schools Adjudicator has not supported the request of the Council on this issue. The Adjudicator acknowledges that the situation is complex with six schools within a mile of Low Ash Primary and 76 within three miles.

"We now know that the number of children requiring a school place in the area has not increased as anticipated, so increasing the number of places at Low Ash will have an impact on other schools.

"We have grounds to believe that the decision would be able to be successfully challenged through judicial review however we are pragmatic and realise that a legal challenge would take us beyond the start of the new term in September. We will support Low Ash School to manage the increase in numbers this year, and ask for a review of the decision for next year."

Councillor Imran Khan, Executive Member for Education, Employment & Skills, said: “We’ve always taken a common-sense approach to this issue. The increase in housing numbers has not materialised, so the corresponding increase in pupil numbers hasn’t happened. The school itself agreed with this approach and all the other local schools agreed too.

"Sadly local Tories and Philip Davies MP have gone against local wishes and have crudely played politics with children’s education. It means that other schools are going to be under-subscribed which will impact on their budgets, which are already strained by government cuts.

“We’ll support Low Ash in managing this and of course we’ll be speaking with the other local schools, who all have good Ofsted ratings, as they will need to plan their budgets with reduced numbers of pupils.

"We will continue to do what is right for parents and children in Wrose, Shipley and right across the district in ensuring we have the right school places in the right areas.”