Bristol parents campaign over shortage of school places

Hannah Summers and Amy Valenzia, from Horfield, Bristol, have launched a campaign calling for more secondary school places

Parents in north Bristol have started a campaign to highlight a shortage of secondary school places in their area.

Hannah Summers and Amy Valenzia live on the border of several catchment areas for oversubscribed schools.

They say parents in Horfield have been offered school places several miles away and the lack of availability was leaving families "feeling anxious".

Bristol City Council said 94% of families had been offered one of their three school preferences.

It added that 77% of families had been offered their first choice and new schools were being built to boost the number of places available.

Ms Summers said: "Putting an 11-year-old on a bus four miles across Bristol is not okay.

"You're looking at something in the region of 350 children needing ongoing secondary provision."

Ms Summers (left) said families should not have to move for secondary provision

Both mothers live in Horfield, which is on the border of the catchment areas for Orchard School, Redland Green, Trinity Academy and Fairfield School, all of which are oversubscribed.

Ms Valenzia said some of their neighbours had moved away to get closer to secondary schools.

"People are drawn here because of the great primary provision, but you never think that far ahead," she added.

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said Orchard School would be increasing its capacity by 31 children each year from September.

'Black hole'

Ms Summers said she felt that part of problem was the growth of academies.

"They don't take any responsibility for how their catchment meets other schools," she said.

"It's a huge amount of insecurity. You're not able to say to your child where they're going to school because you don't know the answer," added Ms Summers.

She said they were campaigning to have the area "firmly served" by at least one secondary school because "there is a black hole which falls on our street".

"We're settled, our kids are settled," said father Ben Whitehouse

Ben Whitehouse said his family were settled and that it would be "a huge wrench" for them to have to move for a school place.

"It does seem quite an extreme course of action seeing as we have got five good local schools that we'd be happy for our kids to go to," he said.

Bristol City Council said new schools were due to open on temporary sites in Temple Quarter and Knowle in September 2023, "which will provide a boost to school places".