Fewer families are sending their children to primary school this year, partly because the pandemic has prompted more to turn to home schooling, the government has said.
Lower immigration is also thought to be behind the 5 per cent drop in applications for primaries in England, revealed in new figures. It came after a 0.5 per cent increase the previous year.
More than one in five children qualified for free school meals this January, or 300,000 more than a year earlier, the statistics show. But there will be a delay in schools receiving the extra pupil premium funding that accompanies poorer children because the Department for Education changed the date at which it calculates the amount.
The department released annual data yesterday on schools, pupils,