In common with many London boroughs the Brent primary school population has continued to fall due to a variety of factors including families having to move out of London to find affordable housing, the long-term impact of Brexit and a declining economy causing European workers to return home, and a falling birthrate.
New developments have not 'yielded' the expected number of children as the occupants are often single flat sharers or 'dinkys' (Double Income No Kids). The proposed Ark primary school next to Wembley Stadium station has been abandoned as there are spare spaces at nearby Elsley Primary.
This results in pressure on school budgets as the main finance is based on the number of pupils. Some schools have seen a steeper decline than others, with those that were expanded during the pupil 'bulge' particularly hit. One solution has been reducing the Planned Admission Number (PAN) for such schools so they may have 2 forms for each age group rather than three - a planned reduction often involving staff restructuring.
Figures going before the Schools Forum tonight shows a net decrease in the primary population of 448 pupils. Most badly hit is Harris Primary Academy South Kenton (formerly Byron Court Primary) with a reduction of 128 children, accelerating a trend that started before forced academisation. This is a 14% reduction and equals £564,547 At a similar percentage loss, but at the other end of school size, Carlton Vale Infants has only 38 children on roll with a loss of 10 equalling a fall of 13% and £67,319 loss.
In the secondary Catholic sector St Claudine's School for Girls (previously Convent of Jesus and Mary) has an 8% fall in pupils (78 pupils) and £583,943 loss in funding and Newman Catholic College a 7% fall (55 pupils) and £359,141 funding loss.
Brent Council has taken action through its Primary Places Strategy and the document outlines the approach it takes to help schools in difficulty despite its own financial constraints:
Contingencies
The proportion of schools relying heavily on reserves remains high with 43% of schools in deficit planning to use 50% or more of their reserves, compared to 42% in 2024/25. It is therefore proposed to continue to de-delegate funds to support schools in financial difficulty, however at a reduced amount of £0.150m, in line with the forecast spend in the current financial year. This would lead to a reduction in the per pupil de-delegated rate of £1.19 at £7.78 compared to £8.97 in 2025/26.
Schools Forum agreed in January 2024 that if in exceptional circumstances school redundancies are eligible to be funded centrally, where the funding criteria is met in line with the redundancy policy, then these will need to be found from within wider Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) funding. It was agreed that redundancies should be funded from the Schools Facing Financial Difficulties Fund (SFFDF). It is proposed to maintain this allocation at £0.3m. There is a £0.21 increase in the proposed rate for 2026/27 at £15.55 per pupil due to a fall in pupil numbers compared to the last financial year.
FULL SCHOOL ALLOCATIONS SPREADSHEET
At the meeting, Cllr Gwen Grahl, Lead Member, answering Lucy Cox, representing the NEU, said that when she came into the post she was determined not to close any schools in the face of falling rolls. She could not rule out closing schools in the future but would use lots of strategies to avoid that. One of those was to locate Additional Resource Provision (ARP) for SEND pupils, in schools with spare capacity.
22 comments:
Has the new school at Wembley been abandoned or is it just delayed?
Reducing class sizes is positive, and the population size is damaging to the environment. keep it up. We need degrowth.
“One solution has been reducing the Planned Admission Number (PAN) for such schools so they may have 2 forms for each age group rather than three - a planned reduction often involving staff restructuring”.
Many people would never send their children to a school with 3 form entry by choice. 1 is preferable
I loved Park Lane Primary one form entry in Wembley Central - you got to know all the children and their families but there were issue re the budget and getting enough staff to take over leadership of the many curriculum areas, SEND etc.
Not sure how Brent Council now designates it officially but hasn't been mentioned for years,
It would be very positive if funding was maintained despite the reduction in numbers but it isn't. It costs the same amount of money to heat, light and maintain a classroom and provide a teacher as it does for a class of 30 but half the funding.
You say decline in numbers is due to a "variety of factors including families having to move out of London to find affordable housing" but surely people are moving out of Brent because of the tower blocks being thrown up everywhere and traffic jams causing pollution, the impact of events at Wembley Stadium, crime and anti social behaviour and because many parents can now work from home - with all these things considered why live here when you can live somewhere greener and safer???
The hardest hit is Byron Court, this massive five form entry, which was never needed, just gives the Headteachers massive pensions, and residents and parents massive headaches. The parental resistance to sending their kids to this school is making the council SEND KIDS there from miles away, and forces parents to deliver the kids by car. Why didn't the Council and Planning Committee listen and understand? Sme of us know why. Even the Mayor of London's figures saw the then current, and predicted the continuing fall in birthrate, but did the officers or head care, nope. Money in the bank.
In line with low and decreasing birth rate in London. This shouldn't justify school closures, the DfE always take this into consideration and smaller classes will mean better outcomes.
Do you think our taxes can afford to pay for half empty schools?
If schools are so empty why is there a housing crisis???
A reduction is class sizes is positive for the students. Obviously schools should not be closed or squeezed.
handing over a £13mil investment to the carpet baggers is disgusting
We all new byron was a car crash before it got going. Nobody wanted this mega school
28 January 2026 at 02:27 and others. Smaller class sizes re not in dispute and 15 in a class as it looks like for Reception at Harris Primary South Kenton is similar to private schools. However, state schools are financed with a sum per pupil and as I have pointed out above that will mean the class of 15 will have half the funding of a normal class of 30. There will be some savings on books and resources but running costs of teacher's' and classroom assistant's salary plus heating, lighting etc would be the same as the larger class. If that is repeated across the school as pupil numbers reduce it becomes a budget crisis. Even going down from 30 to 25 is a financial problem. Smaller class sizes as a policy requires higher funding per pupil to be sustainable. I would love to see that.
A child in my son’s class left because the Council offered housing outside London on a no negotiation basis. No enough children and the Council is moving children out of the area.
@Martin I bet the Harris Board and Head still get paid the same, plus bonuses regardless. As Anon 28 Jan 09:16 said: Carpetbaggers
Village scale Brent, but is it?
There is an immigration crisis where the people coming are not families like from the EU or refugees with family or children. But men who are economic migrants coming via unsafe routes.
There is an immigration crisis where the people coming are not families like from the EU or refugees with family or children. But men who are economic migrants coming via unsafe routes. Migrants are welcome but there is that alongside foreign investors wanting to protect their money which is why wembley park is mostly empty
There are not enough council properties in Brent to cope with the ever increasing demand.
Councils across the capital are also spending around £5million every day on temporary accommodation - a 30% increase in just one year. More than half of all homelessness spending in England now takes place in London, despite the capital having only 15% of the population.
Children's Rights. In South Kilburn three, yes three, children's playgrounds council removed and not replaced from three green spaces. So, a miserable spring and summer pending thanks to these Reform public land grab policies. South Kilburn with Kilburn Tower Wall is on its way to trebling its population since 2001, no children here???
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-schools-crisis-pupils-secondary-fall-primary-councils-b1269257.html
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