'Lack of affordable housing' for families in Church Stretton impacts on fall in primary school numbers
The lack of affordable housing for families in Church Stretton has impacted on the town’s primary school’s numbers falling, according to the school head.
St Lawrence CE Primary School headteacher Alan Brannen believes the current trend could see pupil numbers fall to 140 – a drop of more than 100 from just a few years ago.
There are currently 191 pupils enrolled at the school, but larger cohorts of 30-plus children who leave the school after Year 6 are being replaced by smaller cohorts of about 20 joining the school at Reception age.
“Church Stretton is a beautiful town and a lovely place to live. However, there is a shortage of affordable housing for families wanting to move into the town and this is impacting on the number of primary school-aged children living in our catchment area,” said Mr Brannen.
“Unlike other towns in the county such as Shrewsbury, Shifnal and Ludlow, very few new houses have been built in the last five years and this, combined with older people without children relocating to the area, has compounded the issue.
“Two empty classrooms have been put to excellent use in the form of a SEND Hub for 10 pupils, who mostly live outside of the catchment area, thus boosting the number on roll slightly.
“Having the SEND Hub, a swimming pool (free lessons for all age groups), a spacious forest school area, easy access to the Long Mynd, and an excellent recent Ofsted report would make us a very popular choice of school for parents – if only they could find houses to move into.”
The issue was brought up by Councillor Mark Morris (Lib Dems, The Strettons) during a People Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday (October 22).
“My fear is that school could be under threat at some time in the future if we don’t do something,” said Councillor Morris.
“I’ve taken this up with the leader and deputy leader. But when I had a word with the head of the secondary school, he turned around and said he’s doing quite well because people have heard it’s a good academy and they travel in.
“But he said he’s noticed that, year on year, how the numbers from Church Stretton Primary fall. It’s really serious in our town.”
John Rowe, head of education and quality and safeguarding at Shropshire Council, said the falling numbers present a challenge.
“We have put additional support in, in terms of the financial management of the school, as well as enhanced visits through the school improvement team,” said Mr Rowe.
“The other piece of work we’ve done specifically in relation to that school is the development of our resource provision. Through high needs capital allocation, we’ve been able to invest in schools like St Lawrence’s.
“There has been £60,000 additional funding in the last 12 months specifially to expand the provision to support children with additional needs.
“It’s not necessarily going to compensate for the demographic challenges within the Church Stretton area, but it will look to be able to say ‘what support can this school have to provide for children in a wider area with respect to children who may have additional needs?'”
