COUNCILLORS have been reassured that there is a substantial amount of space capacity in primary schools for pupils in Wellington due to falling birth rates since 2011.

There seems to be a misconception among the public that school places are limited, but Wellington Town Council heard earlier this month that that is far from the truth.

Phil Curd, head of education places at Somerset Council, met councillors and tried to explain to them the complexities of future planning for school places.

Primary school provision within Wellington can be found at Beech Grove, Wellesley Park, St John’s and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, as well as Rockwell Green and outlying primary schools at Langford Budville, West Buckland Primary School and Sampford Arundel. There is also the senior school at Court Fields in Wellington.

Mr Curd said school places within the five primary schools in Wellington totalled 1,900 pupils but this year only two thirds of those were filled with 1,274. That number is expected to reduce in 2027 and 2028, but rise again in 2029 and reach 1,315 in 2030.

“On the whole, Somerset’s pupil numbers are in gradual decline, a key factor being the falling birth rate in the county,” he said.

Councillors heard there were 5,764 births in Somerset in 2011 and that had dwindled down to 4,621 in 2024.

“We have a lot of headroom in primary school places in the Wellington area,” he said. “This year there are 626 surplus places across Wellington.

“By 2030 we will have 585 surplus places across Wellington – that’s enough children for two primary schools. So there is a lot of capacity here and that helps to give parents choice.”

Mr Curd said things could change dramatically once new housing developments started springing up and that it would be “good to have sites for new schools in the back pocket” such as a planned school at Jurston Farm.

A spokesman for Wellington Town Council said: “The council was reassured that school place planning in the town is as robust as it can be given the complexities involved and that as things stand there is a substantial amount of spare capacity in primary schools because of falling birth rates since 2011 and houses not being built as quickly as anticipated which mean schools are able to cope with anticipated increase in population through new housing in the short to medium term.

“The school site at Jurston is useful to have but it is not anticipated to be needed for some time.

“Previous and planned expansion at Court Fields will put it in a good place to cope with any increases in pupil numbers in the coming years.

“This year has seen a bulge in pupil numbers which along with the increased popularity of the school with Wellington parents has meant that there’s a small number of Wellington-based pupils who will have to travel to Kingsmead School at Wiveliscombe. This is not expected to be an issue again given the lower numbers of pupils coming through the primary sector in the coming years.”