EDUCATION chiefs face an unenviable situation in trying to cope with the ever-increasing number of children attaining school age.

Last year almost 500 children did not get a place in any of their top-three primary schools and it is forecast the intake this year will swell by another 200 children.

It is unsurprising given the growth in the county’s population the 2011 census has revealed in the past month. It also showed the number of under four-year-olds in Oxfordshire in 2011 had risen by 15 per cent.

Oxfordshire County Council says it is working hard to be able to cater for this population surge and that is, admittedly, not an easy task.

It would be right to question how long the county has been working on its population models and if it could have been better prepared, but conversely it does not have a blank cheque to keep just slapping up new classrooms or schools.

However, looking forward, it does raise unease about the council’s desire to get out of the education business by shuffling every school off to become an academy.

Without some sort of central controlling body, where will be the foresight and ability to identify and tackle countywide education issues in the future?