TRAFFORD Council has pleaded for help in combating the ‘unprecedented’ pressure on the borough’s school places.

Cllr Karina Carter, executive member for education, detailed the borough’s position at an executive meeting on Monday and was candid about the difficulty of the situation.

She said: “On national offer day we had sufficient places in Trafford.  We offered 94 per cent first choice primary school places, 98 per cent second choice and 99 per cent third choice. We did not have a shortage of places at that time.

“Since then, unprecedented doesn’t even cover how many families we had move into area. As always, we welcome these families, including from the initiative to move people in from Hong Kong. The stamp duty holiday also made Trafford a more attractive borough.”

A total of 800 families have applied for primary school places for their children since May 3, 2021.

Cllr Carter added: “The admission team have done brilliant jobs, we’ve had primary places allocated to all of those children which is an amazing job.

“All of the high schools apart from Lostock are their own admission authority so we don’t have as clear a picture of what’s going on there. We can see the amount of children from out of the borough that some of those schools take, but they’re all academies, so unfortunately there’s nothing we can do.”

The situation and future sustainability of school places across both primary and secondary schools in the area is causing concern.

The council had hoped to increase its number of primary school places by demolishing, rebuilding and expanding facilities at Stamford Park Primary School.

But before plans could be put into motion, the building was listed, so the council’s plans were forced to be abandoned.

There had been £8 million allocated to that project but that is now being ploughed back into the education budget to try and help meet place demand elsewhere.

Cllr Liz Patel, executive member for leisure, echoed concerns about primary school places and gave thanks to officers for their hard work.

She said: “We’re clearly facing a real challenge, but I have every confidence we’ll do what we can and need to to get through this. It’s clearly been a very stressful time and it’s a terrible disappointment about Stamford Park – that game playing by adults has derailed this and we’ve let those children down. What’s the point in creating a museum we can’t adapt and bring into modern school day?”

Cllr Chris Boyes, of the Conservative Party, raised concerns about the number of temporary classrooms in use across the borough.

Cllr Carter responded: “We need some help. We need more mobile classrooms, more money, the Department for Education and the Regional Schools Commissioner are aware of our position, but we’re kind of getting to end of road.

“We can’t stop people wanting to move into Trafford, it’s an issue, but we are casting our net wide to find other opportunities – but we’ve got to be realistic what we might be offered.”

While pressure remains in the higher primary school age groups, particularly in Altrincham and Sale, there are currently a lot of vacancies in reception and nursery due to the borough’s declining birth rate – a pattern seen across Greater Manchester.

Altrincham’s nursery numbers are ‘exceptionally low’ too.

Cllr Carter said schools across the borough have been ‘fantastic’ and have helped and supported the council’s efforts. She said she was grateful to school leaders in particular.

What support will be offered to Trafford by the Department for Education and the Regional Schools Commissioner will become clear in due course.