The cross-party House of Lords Public Services Committee has launched a short inquiry into falling primary school rolls.
The inquiry will consider the causes of falling primary school rolls across England and examine the impact of falling school rolls on schools, academic outcomes, children and their families and communities. The inquiry will also consider how the issue can be addressed.
It comes after campaigners revealed evidence of a growing use of opaque practices by schools such as off-rolling, internal isolation and off-site direction that are removing tens of thousands of pupils from mainstream education.
Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) said its research found that schools were increasingly using such practices with minimal scrutiny or accountability.
It said school exclusions were close to record highs in England and were expected to form a key benchmark in the Government’s forthcoming inclusion reforms. Its report argues that focusing solely on formal exclusion figures obscures the expansion of practices operating outside statutory oversight.
Marianne Lagrue, Policy Manager at Coram Children’s Legal Centre, said:
“A truly inclusive education system is accountable to the children, young people and families who most struggle to access it. Post-covid, amidst a newly digitised childhood, and with a quarter of UK children living in material deprivation, children’s needs are not going away. Classrooms and schools can be made more inclusive, and the interlinked crises of behaviour and unmet need can be addressed head-on, but without sealing the cracks through which children fall, these changes will continue to fail those in greatest need.”
Edward Timpson CBE KC, former Children’s Minister and author of the May 2019 Timpson Review of School Exclusions, said:
“When I published my review of school exclusion in 2019, the central message was clear: exclusion should be a last resort, not a convenient response to complexity. It should follow a process that is fair, transparent and rooted in a proper understanding of a child’s needs. Most importantly, it should never become a proxy for unmet need, nor a pathway to poorer life chances. In recognising where commitments and progress have been made since then, this report from Coram Children’s Legal Centre shows, with clarity and conviction, how far we still have to go.”
Lord Bradley, Chair of the Public Services Committee said:
“The number of children enrolled in primary school has been on the decline for several years with current projections showing more significant decline in primary school rolls in the future.
“We know that there is considerable concern about the risks associated with the falling primary school rolls because of the potential impact on financial stability of schools, especially when funding is usually based on pupil numbers, families, and communities. We’ve launched this inquiry in order to examine in detail the causes for the decline, the impacts and how best these should be addressed so that children, families and communities can benefit from educational institutions that help them all to thrive.
“We’ve contacted stakeholders, experts and other organisations across relevant sectors and look forward to hearing from them before issuing our findings.”
The Committee expects to report on its findings in the next few months.
