Vacancies and waiting lists in Brent secondary schools

An FoI request has revealed secondary school vacancies in Ark Elvin Academy, Newman Catholic College and Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College. Crest Academy and Ark Elvin are more popular than in previous years and the controversial Michaela Academy Free School has a large waiting list. No secondary child is without a school place although the waiting lists show that many would like to transfer to other schools. All Brent secondary schools are now academies or religious schools, none are under the control of the local authority.

The figures are for the January 2018  'in year' census and will have changed to some extent since then. There are plans for a new secondary school in North Brent as the previous primary bulge pupils move into the secondary phase.

 

School Name	Round	Vacancies (unfilled places)	Waiting List
Alperton Community School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	3
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	6
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	2
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	2
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	0
Ark Academy	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	4
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	1
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	1
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	0
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	1
Ark Elvin Academy	2017-18 Y07 In Year	9	0
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	32	0
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	52	1
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	25	1
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	16	0
Capital City Academy	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	2
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	19
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	21
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	1	10
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	17
Claremont High School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	24
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	1	33
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	30
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	20
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	5	11
Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College	2017-18 Y07 In Year	22	0
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	10	1
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	11	0
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	3	0
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	9	0
JFS	2017-18 Y07 In Year	6	0
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	0
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	0
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	11	0
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	14	0
Kingsbury High School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	27
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	32
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	1	30
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	1	20
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	6	18
Michaela Community School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	47
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	48
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	29
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	2	19
Newman Catholic College	2017-18 Y07 In Year	46	0
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	12	1
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	7	4
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	26	5
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	1
Preston Manor School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	19
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	1	10
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	2	5
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	2
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	2	4
Queens Park Community School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	17
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	26
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	16
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	17
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	16
St Gregorys Catholic Science College	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	9
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	17
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	2	14
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	9
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	7
The Crest Academy	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	10
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	20
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	32	25
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	15	17
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	6	15
Wembley High Technology College	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	6
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	5
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	1
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	1
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	0

Figures reveal decline in demand for Reception school places in Brent

An FoI request regarding school rolls in Brent following the January 'in Year' census has revealed a considerable number of unfilled Reception class places in the borough as well as unfilled places scattered across the primary school years.  Some of the vacancies are at schools that were expanded as a result of the high primary demand of recent years. Demographic factors such as EU citizens going home post-Brexit and families being housed outside of London as a result of the Benefit Cap may have affected the numbers.

In the late 70s primary schools suffered from what was called 'falling rolls' as the population of children reduced.  This resulted in the closure of some schools and amalgamation of others. In what was then the Inner London Education Authority teachers were compulsorily redeployed to schools needing teachers.

We are not at that point yet but some schools might eventually reduce their forms of entry - the number of classes they take in at Reception and then in each year group throughout the school. Each form of entry is 30 pupils, so when interpreting the figures for the number of vacancies in each school the number of forms of entry needs to be taken into account. 10 vacancies in a five form entry school is much less serious that 10 vacancies in a one form entry school.

School funding is for the most part based on the number of pupils, so schools suffering from a large number of vacancies will incur a financial loss. Budgeting becomes more difficult when the reduction in numbers is less than a whole class, so the school cannot reduce the number of teachers but has less money to spend on them and teaching assistants.  I understand that some schools which have expanded may have negotiated a 'cushion; with the local authority so they are funded for a full teacher's salary even if the class has vacancies. Unfilled vacancies reduce the number of pupil in each class in a cohort so there is some educational advantage but at a time of education cuts these are undermined by the financial impact.

The core funding per primary pupil (before sums for deprivation, EAL and other factors are added) is about £3,400.

In the table below, based on the FoI response LINK,  I have included vacancies throughout the school as well as Reception vacancies. I have listed only those schools with significant vacancies. St Mary's RC Primary at only 2 forms of entry is the one with one of the highest percentage vacancies.

Kilburn Grange Free School is not funded by the local authority but instead directly funded by the DfE. As a new school it only has children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. It has only filled the equivalent of 4 out of 6 classes.

The figures do raise the issue of whether the planned Ark Primary free school on the carpark of York House in Wembley is needed at its planned 3 forms of entry (90 children a year) when the recently expanded Elsley Primary School (it doubled in size) has 48 vacancies, although it will be argued the places are needed for the new Quintain developments.

School Name	Forms of entry	Vacancies (unfilled places Reception)	Waiting List	Total vacancies whole school
Brentfield	3	20	0	44
Bryon Court	5	44	0	69
Carlton Vale Infants	2	22	0	66
Christchurch CofE	1	8	0	21
East Lane Primary	3	0	0	156
Elsley Primary School	4	48	0	71
Harlesden Primary School	3	38	0	112
Kilburn Grange Free School	2	13	0	62
Lyon Park Primary	4	8	2	20
Newfield Primary	2	17	1	48
Preston Park Primary	3	12	1	45
Roe Green Strathcona School	1	23	1	75
St Andrew & St Francis CofE	2	9	0	18
St Mary's CofE Primary	2	7	1	48
St Mary's RC Primary School	2	25	0	150
The Stonebridge Primary	3	57	0	85
Uxendon Primary School	3	16	2	53
Total vacancies		367		1143