Education chiefs are predicting a spike in the number of pupils starting primary education in Wolverhampton in both 2015 and 2016.
They estimate that around 3,600 pupils will join the city's primary schools at the start of the 2015 academic year, an increase of some 300 on this year. Around 3,500 pupils are expected to start primary school in 2016, falling to approximately 3,300 in 2017.
As a result, hundreds of extra primary school places are urgently needed.
Councillor Phil Page, Wolverhampton City Council's Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Learning, said: "The council has a duty to ensure there are sufficient school places for our young people.
"Predicting demand for school places is very difficult as it is influenced by a wide variety of factors, including migration, the development of new housing, school performance and so on.
"However, it is clear that we are going to need to make a significant number of additional places available to our young people over the next two years.
"The number of pupils starting primary school is expected to fall back to around this year's level from 2017, and so we are proposing a mix of permanent and temporary expansion schemes."
Subject to the outcome of consultation with schools and a final decision later this year, the council's 2015 Primary School Expansion Programme would see the creation of more than 700 additional primary school places.
An additional 465 permanent places are proposed across Bilston CE Primary, Eastfield Primary, Manor Primary and Westacre Infant schools, and 270 temporary places are proposed across Bushbury Hill Primary, Loxdale Primary, St Martin's CE Primary, Stowlawn Primary and West Park Primary schools.
In addition, the council is investigating the potential for a further expansion scheme to be added to the programme.
The spike in the number of pupils entering primary education over the next 2 years will in due course have a knock on effect at secondary school level and plans will be drawn up to ensure the city's secondary schools are able to accommodate the increased demand.
- released: Tuesday 30 September, 2014