AS a primary school with just one pupil is closed by the council, new data have shown which parts of the country have lower pupil numbers - and which are oversubscribed.
Cumbria County Council's leadership has decided that St Joseph's Catholic Primary School will close for good in August.
Rapidly falling pupil numbers have meant that in January, just four pupils were attending the school. Today, there is just one child in attendance.
READ MORE: Cumbria County Council vote to close struggling Cockermouth school
Education in Cumbria - in figures
There are 268 primary schools in the county. For the 42,031 places available, only 35,230 are taken.
For the 39 secondary schools, 30,513 places have been taken out of 37,324 available.
The following ten schools in the area are at present experiencing large gaps between the number of pupils applying and the number of spaces available.
The table highlights the name of the school, the capacity size, the number of pupils actually attending the school and the difference:
Responding to the varying figures at schools in the area, Cllr Sue Sanderson said: “The county council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient places to accommodate all children living in Cumbria.
"Each school has a published admission number (PAN), which represents the maximum number of children the school intends to admit each year.
“The PAN is based on the school’s physical capacity – the number of classrooms and other facilities. This is known as ‘net capacity’, calculated based on a standard, national formula which allocates a nominal number of places to each classroom, science lab or school hall.
“Crucially, whilst the PAN should be a close fit with the net capacity, schools are able to plan to admit more children than the net capacity measure might indicate.
“For Community and Voluntary Controlled (VC) schools (some Church of England schools are VC), the County Council is the statutory admissions authority, and sets the PAN. For Foundation and Voluntary Aided (VA) schools (all Catholic Schools are VA, as are some Church of England schools), the governors set the PAN.
“For academies, the Academy Trust sets the PAN.”
Leading national law firm Stephensons advised parents who are unhappy with their allocated place that they may be able to appeal.
Mike Pemberton, partner and head of the civil liberties and public law team said: “When you consider that the initial allocation is going to influence the next seven years of your child’s life as they develop through Key Stage 1 and 2, it is not surprising that national offer day can be stressful.
“Parents’ starting point should be to firstly look closely at the school your child has been given a place for – there may well be more merits in that option than you first realise."
READ MORE: 15% of school children need free school meals, report reveals
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