A falling birth rate in Richmond has seen seven of the borough's primary schools cut the number of Reception classes for young pupils.

And two of the area's schools – Nelson and Stanley – have temporarily cut the number of children accepted by two forms.

The total pupil population of the borough's 45 primary schools is down by some 646 children compared to a peak of 2018, according to official figures.

The fall would have been much greater but for the arrival of 257 young children from Hong Kong – a figure which could rise sharply against the background of the unstable political situation.

New official figures chart a fall in the number of babies born to parents in the borough from a high of 2,992 in 2010 to 2,544 in 2016.

Alongside this, the number of children in primary schools peaked at 16,830 in 2018 before falling back to 16,173 in 2021, according to a report for Richmond's Education and Children's Services Committee.

In theory, such a large fall might justify closing a primary school, which has happened in some parts of the country, however Richmond is managing the change by reducing the number of Reception forms.

The report states: "The impact of smaller roll numbers at Reception upon schools' budgetary positions has been mitigated by working with schools to reduce their admission number, where appropriate, so that they fill a smaller number of classes and budget their staffing accordingly, rather than having some half-full classes which are financially unviable."

It adds: "Officers worked with schools to reduce capacity for Reception entry for the 2021/2022 school year by a total of nine forms – eight in the western half of the borough and one in the eastern half – across seven schools: Buckingham Primary, Darell Primary, Hampton Wick Infant, Heathfield Infant, Nelson Primary, Stanley Primary and Trafalgar Infant. Nelson and Stanley have each been temporarily reduced by two forms of entry."

The report rules out closures, adding: "There has been no question about the continued viability of any of the 45 primary-phase schools in the borough, therefore none has been, or is likely to be, proposed for closure – unlike in some other local authority areas."

The report, which was presented to Councillors at a meeting earlier this week found falling numbers are being off-set to some extent by the arrival of youngsters from overseas, particularly Hong Kong, during the school year.

This has been triggered by the deteriorating political situation in China with the undermining of democratic institutions and freedoms as the Beijing governments tightens its grip. As a result, the UK government has provided a new visa regime to allow Hong Kong residents to escape to the UK.

The figures suggest that south and west London, particularly Richmond, are attractive to people from Hong Kong. By contrast this area has had relatively few arrivals from Afghanistan.

The report said: "These increased in-year application numbers include a total of 351 children from families who, since the start of the 2020/2021 school year, have moved into the borough from Hong Kong, 257 in the primary phase and 94 in the secondary.

"Richmond is one of only four boroughs in London which has experienced such large numbers, the others being Barnet, Kingston and Sutton.

"As the situation in Hong Kong further deteriorates, the numbers of arrivals within the borough from there are likely to continue."

The report adds: "Whilst some London boroughs, e.g. Hammersmith and Fulham, have had more than 500 statutory-school-aged Afghan children and young people move into their area, Richmond has received only three for whom school

admission applications have been made."

The borough Council has been putting pressure on the Home Office to re-settle more refugee families from Afghanistan in the area.

It might have been expected that the number of EU-origin families and children in the area would fall as a result of the Brexit vote and new immigration rules, however the figures do not show this. Rather there has been an increase of 194.

Looking at Secondary schools, the total pupil population has increased by 2,768 since 2015 to 11,261. However, this is likely to begin to reverse over the next decade based on falling primary school numbers.