House building delays cited as factor in planned reductions to places at three Rugby schools

Delays to house building have been cited as a factor in three Rugby schools planning to reduce available places from September 2028.

Warwickshire County Council is set to launch a consultation on school admission arrangements for 2028, including the proposed cuts to places at Long Lawford Primary School to the north-west of Rugby, Bilton Infant School to the south-west of the town and Boughton Leigh Junior School north of Rugby.

The education authority puts the reductions down to declining pupil numbers that are expected to “persist for several years”, causing “significant challenges” for schools trying to balance the books. 

A report authored by county professional Kathryn Carey read: “Whilst Warwickshire is still seeing significant housing growth, delays to some developments mean that housing previously expected to be occupied by now is yet to be built.

“Whilst the council does wish to maintain surplus capacity, thus ensuring families moving to an area can attend a local school, this can have a significant impact when the surplus is at one school in an area.

"Often schools are forced to reorganise year groups outside the year of entry to make savings.”

Long Lawford Primary is said to have seen “shrinking pupil demographic” in recent years, resulting in the merging of year one and two and year three and four classes. Projections suggest little chance of improvement and plans to bring together year five and six classes from September 2027 are in the pipeline ahead of reducing the school’s maximum annual intake from 60 to 45 a year later.

Boughton Leigh Junior will cut its three classes for new entries to two from 2028 – from 90 pupils to 60 – in line with a similar change at its feeder school Boughton Leigh Infant where 55 pupils are currently in its year one cohort.

Bilton Infant School, which caters for four-to-seven-year-olds, will halve its annual intake from 60 to 30 with the bulk of children attending five other schools in the Rugby West area.

Infant class size limits mean an intake of more than 30 must lead to the opening of a second class or the merging of age groups. 

None of the schools will have their physical capacities reduced, enabling them to increase their pupil admission number (PAN) if demand increases in the future.

The report does not state when the six-week consultation will commence but, subject to political sign-off from Warwickshire County Council's political lead for education Councillor Wayne Briggs (Reform UK, Arbury), it is likely to begin soon.

The feedback is due to be collated and presented to the county’s cabinet – the Reform UK panel of councillors in charge of major service areas – to approve or reject the capacity reductions and wider admissions arrangements in February 2027.