Increasing class sizes in Bradford’s primary schools are reaching crisis point, a teaching union has warned, with the problem set to get worse.

Some schools are ‘packed to the limit’ with 700 pupils herded into classes and temporary buildings tacked onto existing facilities, the National Union of Teachers has said.

A Council report has shown that only a quarter of the city’s 155 primary schools had spaces in their Reception class for new students this month with schools in Haworth, Ilkley, Shipley and Bradford West all full. Those 38 with spaces include Peel Park, Holycroft and Carrwood.

Ian Murch, the assistant secretary of the NUT in Bradford, said that the figures were ‘very concerning’.

Mr Murch, who represents 3,000 of the city’s 5,000 teachers, blamed the problem on Bradford having the most rapid growth of school age children in the country.

“It will approach a crisis point within the next few years because we are not just discovering there are more children in one year,” he said. “We are getting into a situation we haven’t been in for a long time where our schools are overcrowded.

“There are more two and three-year-olds coming through than the system can cope with and 40 extra classes are needed every year.”

Figures show that 200 primary school pupils were allocated a different school in August to any of their three preferences. For secondary school students, that number was 171.

The number of Bradford district pupils allocated to schools outside the local authority was 597.

Pressure has also been felt in secondary schools with several agreeing to increase their published admission numbers.

Aire Valley agreed to take 50 extra pupils, Belle Vue Boys an extra 30, Belle Vue Girls an extra 40 and Tong an extra 40.

Up to 50 per cent of applicants moving into Bradford are from new communities, mostly EU migrant families.

Stuart Herdson, the branch secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, which has 1,000 local members, said that children in overly-large classes were missing out.

The Telegraph & Argus reported last week that the Council is lodging a bid for Government cash for two extra secondary schools to cope with demand.