Back in 2015 at the last local elections, Nottingham Labour pledged to ‘guarantee a choice of places for every child at a local primary school.’ Since then we’ve been working hard, alongside Council officers and with our local schools to meet this pledge.
In 2015, 91% of children and parents received their 1st or 2nd choice primary school. Today, (16th April 2018) on national offer day, we were able to offer 97% of children and parents their 1st or 2nd choice, and every child in Nottingham City has been offered a primary school place.
We’ve worked with local teachers and school governors to build new school buildings and expand good schools in areas where demand is high. Nottingham is a growing city, with both economic and population growth outstripping the national average.
In recent years Nottingham Labour has invested over £40million to create new schools places, new jobs in local schools and improved school facilities and learning environments. We will have created 4778 new school places when our expansion programme is completed.
More families are choosing to live and work in Nottingham, our local schools are more popular than ever and now that Nottingham City has the highest proportion of Ofsted ‘outstanding’ rated schools in the region, demand has been rising. Our investment has improved schools, dealt with growing demand in Nottingham’s primary schools and significantly increased the proportion of families securing their preferred primary schools.
Our most recent investment created 210 additional places at Mellers Primary, in Redford, which was officially opened by Jermaine Jenas, Jawaid Khaliq and Ellie Downie back in November. Construction works are underway now at primary schools in Bestwood, Bilborough and Wollaton to ensure that we continue to improve good local schools and meet our 2015 election pledge.
You can find more information about primary school national offer day and our school investment programme here: http://www.mynottinghamnews.co.uk/higher-percentage-of-pupils-get-first-choice-primary-school/#5ad44dc651180
Cllr Sam Webster
Portfolio Holder for Business, Education and Skills
Nottingham City Council