EVERY primary school in Bolton is to be put under the microscope as part of a major review to find ways of dealing with thousands of empty desks.

Education chiefs are looking at ways of reducing reception class sizes to 30 without forcing parents to send children to schools they do not want.

The town has thousands of spare places but not at schools where there is high demand, and many popular schools may be forced to reduce their numbers in a bid to cut reception class sizes from the traditional 35 to the 30 demanded by the Government by September 1999.

Already the Government has asked Bolton to justify why 15 schools in the borough have unfilled places of over 25 pc.

Statisticians predict the falling birth rate will make things worse and leave Bolton with about 4,500 too many primary places in five years time.

Education chiefs refuse to consider the possibility of closing schools before the review has been completed but Chris Swift, head of strategy, admitted: "We are facing a challenging time. We have to look at the distribution of places so we can offer choice and diversity to all parents."

Most of the empty places are in a swathe which cuts across the north and central areas of the borough from Breightmet to Halliwell and a strip through Horwich, Blackrod and Westhoughton.

Although 11 of the 15 schools with the most empty desks are below the national average at Key Stage 2, education chiefs insist they have unfilled places because of a naturally falling birth rate and people moving house rather than the quality of classes on offer.

They believe many schools in the West of the borough will fill up naturally as estates spring up nearby.

But they say natural geographical areas will make it difficult to send displaced children from over subscribed schools to those with spare places.

Each school head has been told to submit plans about what they aim to do to meet new Government targets which will be examined alongside long term predictions for pupil numbers in each area.

Education chiefs expect to come up with proposals for each area by the summer and carry out a consultation exercise with parents before completing the study by the autumn.

BOLTON HAS applied for £460,000 to expand five of the borough's popular primary schools in advance of the review.

Education chiefs predict they will need extra classrooms at Bradshaw St Maxentius, Morris Green St Bede's, St Andrew's at Over Hulton, St Saviour's at Ringley and Clarendon at Great Lever to reduce reception class sizes to 30. They will miss out on a share of £40 million nationally if they wait for the outcome of the study.

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