Class crisis

An expansion project costing more than £8.5 million is underway to add dozens of new classrooms as 42 schools are full or oversubscribed for September.

A council spokesman said: “Pupil numbers are increasing within the borough and creating a shortage of places in certain areas.

“The number of applications for infant school places has reached record levels, which has put enormous strain on the provision of school places.”

The building programme will add 665 places over four years. The authority also says there is a proposal for a new school in central Rotherham to offer a further 315 school places.

Five extra teaching areas at Herringthorpe J&I should be complete by October, at a cost of £1.8 million.

The ongoing expansion at Flanderwell Primary — to include four classrooms and a special needs unit — will be £1.5 million once finished. 

Four more classrooms costing £1.2 million will be completed by August 2014 to accommodate annual intake rising to 45 at Wath Primary.

Expansion at Broom Valley Community Primary will see two temporary and then four permanent rooms built. The £1 million project should be completed by 2016.

Listerdale’s admission number will go up to 45 from September until 2016. An extra four classrooms are being designed and expected to be ready by August 2014 at a cost of £800,000.

“Substantial” Section 106 contributions from house developers will help fund expansions in the Wath area.

Brampton Ellis Junior and Cortonwood’s combined intake will rise from 110 to 140 at a cost of £600,000, around half of which will be Section 106.

Brinsworth Howarth J&I will be upped to 45 admission from 30 until the first of two primary schools is built on the new Waverley estate.

Treeton Primary is oversubscribed and cannot be expanded so pupils are being sent to neighbouring schools with space.

Thornhill had four additional classrooms built last year and modular buildings have been erected at Aston Hall, Treeton and Catcliffe primaries.

Expansions at Flanderwell, Sunnyside and Bramley Grange have already eased pressure in the Wickersley area.

Initial discussions have taken place with head teacher David Hudson about adding 12 classrooms to accommodate future demand. 

Two temporary classrooms are expected to be used from September as an interim measure.

The spokesman said: “The capital cost of the building projects is currently met from Basic Need funding allocated from the Department for Education. Basic needs funding is provided for the provision of sufficient school places.

“Section 106 agreements are also in place for some future developments. This funding will be utilised to contribute to the provision of school places in future projects where applicable.”

Jill Adams, from Rotherham NUT, said a scarcity of places has a massive knock-on effect within the classroom. 

She added: “Research shows that if there’s not enough room to move about and people are banging into desks, it can have an effect in terms of stress and concentration.

“When teachers have to deal with more children, it obviously means less time spent with each, so there’s the impact on the curriculum. 

“And there are families who can’t get a child into their school even though they have a sibling there. They have to move about, driving and catching buses to other schools.”