Considerations for school place planning

When reviewing the need for additional school places, particularly when schools ask to expand, the School Place Planning team will start by considering the following:

Pupil Forecasts - The School Place Planning team produce pupil number forecasts each year based on birth data for all Warwickshire children. Parental preference is then factored in based on past trends as well as the amount of in year movement expected as the year group’s move through the school. On top of this we then factor in the number of children generated as a result of new housing, based on the expected build trajectories provided by the districts and boroughs or developers.

4% Capacity – The target set out in the Sufficiency Strategy is to maintain 4% available capacity across any planning area to allow in year applications to be accommodated whenever possible. In real terms this means when planning school places we do not expect all schools to be full in all year groups, all of the time. Likewise when considering requests for expansion the available capacity in other schools in the area needs to be considered.

School Admissions Code – All school organisation projects must take account of the practicalities of how school places are allocated. Any place planning decision must comply with the School Admissions Code and pupils must be able to access the places intended for them.

Home to School Transport – We are committed to providing local places for local children whenever possible. Any impact on Home to School Transport budgets are considered when planning additional school places and any increase in transport costs expected needs to be factored into the value for money of providing those school places.