Urgent action needs to be taken to solve a continuing shortage of school places in north Carlisle.

That’s the call from county councillor Alan Toole as one of the city’s largest primary schools reveals it has accepted 11 more pupils than it currently has provision for.

In total Kingmoor Junior School will welcome 86 new children in September, with bosses admitting the extra pupils would probably have been admitted anyway on appeal.

Headteacher Andy Cairns said that the children were part of the Kingmoor School community, with 85 of them currently at the infant school. He added that the school believed it would be wrong to refuse admission.

The situation has reignited the debate about the lack of places in the north of the city, with repeated calls for a new school to be built in that area.

Stanwix School is also oversubscribed and has recently applied to Carlisle City Council to make a temporary classroom permanent.

To accommodate the extra pupils at Kingmoor the school will take over a room in the Kingmoor Community and Business Centre which is currently used for a courses, sessions and meetings.


Andy Cairns Mr Cairns said: “We needed to look at the best use of space within the grounds and the governing body looked at space throughout the entire site.

“We decided we could look at the timetabling in the business centre and the timetable could be adjusted to one room, and we could use the other as a classroom.

“We need to stress though that the governing body is 100 per cent behind the success of the business centre and has supported the centre.”

It is not believed any courses or sessions will be affected as a result of the rearrangements and the room taken will revert back to community use in the evenings.

The squeeze on primary school places in the area, particularly at Stanwix and Kingmoor Schools, intensified following the closure of the former Belah School in 2008.

Mr Toole, who represents Belah on the authority, said that sorting out the issues north of the river must be a priority for Cumbria County Council.

He said: “It doesn’t surprise me. It’s extremely urgent that something is done. It’s all right people saying that Story Homes are going to build a new school up at Crindledyke, but that’s for the children up there.


Alan Toole “There are people moving into new houses in this area who can’t get their children into school, and estate agents are advertising houses as near schools.

“There are no places and something should be done as soon as possible but I don’t see any movement. They need to get their finger out and do something.

“When they closed Belah School there were problems. But there is still room on that site behind the doctors’ surgery to build a small school. I’m still banging that drum.”

Mr Toole added that he fears a new school north of the river might get pushed back from being a priority, with the future of Newman School up in the air following December’s floods.

“I’m not happy that they’ve had to take a room off the business centre but the school is right in what it has done,” Mr Toole continued.

“As well as this problem affecting the children and their parents it’s now affecting the whole community too.”

However, the county council says it believes that there are enough places.

A spokesman for the authority said: “All children living in the catchment areas for Kingmoor Infants and Stanwix Primary have been offered school places in the last three years.

“Based on the number of children born in the catchment areas, we believe there are sufficient places available in reception classes at both schools for the foreseeable future.

“As part of the planning consent for the Story Homes development at Crindledyke, a legal agreement is in place for the developer to eventually build a new school in this area.

“The council is closely monitoring the potential future demand for school places and, if other new housing developments go ahead, we would be looking to provide another school funded with developer contributions.”