The Department for Education’s National Pupil Projections for July 2012 shows that by 2020, the number of children attending maintained nurseries and state-funded primary schools is set to increase by 18 per cent, reaching levels last seen in the 1970s.
At present there are 954,000 children under five attending maintained nurseries and primary schools. The DfE’s figures estimate that by 2019 this will increase to just over 1 million pre-school children, a 13 per cent increase on this year.
Between 2012 and 2015 alone, the number of nursery and primary school children is expected to increase by 8 per cent.
According to the DfE, the number of children in maintained nurseries and primary schools started increasing in 2010 and are projected to continue rising.
The figures also show that by 2015, there are expected to be around 4.4 million children in primary school, an increase of 8 per cent on this year. By 2020, there will be around 4.8 million children, 18 per cent higher than in 2012.
The biggest increase in the number of primary aged children is in London, where there is expected to be an 18 per cent increase by 2015, compared to 9 per cent in the North East and South West of England.
