Recent school admissions news

Reduction of PANs at Primary Schools in Southwark for September 2022

We're consulting on a proposal to decrease the Published Admission Number (PAN)* of Reception classes at 4 primary schools for the academic year 2022/23 onwards. This proposal is an area wide undertaking by the council to right-size PANs. This is due to falling rolls across the borough to balance the number of places available against the current level of demand. 

School admissions and school census data has confirmed that primary rolls, particularly in Reception, have been falling year on year in Southwark - a five year trend has been established. An oversupply of places at a school leads to financial and organisational inefficiency. This can be challenging for individual schools to manage. The local authority and school leaders have worked together to consider options and take steps to address this. A review of the rolls of all primary schools in the borough has been undertaken. Schools where rolls were falling and/or where spare capacity already existed due to schools not recruiting to their PANs were identified and considered for reduction.

The aim of this proposal is to help stabilise each school’s intake and enable school leaders to plan and deliver school provision effectively and meet local demand. The reduction of the Reception PANs across Southwark will not lead to a shortage of school places in the borough. There are 605 spare reception places this year and the proposal has the potential to reduce this by 150 places. There are a sufficient number of places available at other primary schools in the borough to accommodate Reception and in-year demand at current levels. A reduction in PAN would apply solely to the Reception intake for each of the proposed schools from 2022 onwards, and not to children already in existing classes at the school.

Long term value for money will be achieved by ensuring that schools are the right size to reflect local demand. We'll continue to monitor the demand for school places across the borough. Should the situation change and additional places be required, we'll act accordingly to re-provide places. The amended PANs are shown in the table below:

*The “PAN” is the maximum number of pupils that an Admission Authority will admit to the Reception class(es) each year.   

Page last updated: 15 December 2021