That primary schools in Essex don’t have classes of 45 kids

I had a push notification from the times this morning saying “how to secure bursaries and scholarships at top private schools” when I clicked through the article was just about how poor private schools now offer less of these due to VAT. Click bait

It’s 32 in ours (Oxfordshire) but three are joint with the SEN classroom so it’s only 29 full time.

I’m on Essex border and my children’s school has 26. Pan is 30 per class (2 form entry) I have never heard of anywhere being over PAN

many village primaries are closing because they are in such low demand

I had a class of 38 in y4 about 20 years ago. Haven't had one that big since though.

The only time I saw this was when PE classes got doubled up if a member of staff was absent or had to go to SLT meeting. This was very frequent meaning there would be 60 kids with one member of staff. Very stressful for the staff

Schools are actually struggling to fill classes purely because of how insecure, expensive and shit renting in the SE is, no way are classes that big when schools in London and Essex are closing.

The Times is not a paper you can trust now. Plenty of made up stories , mainly about "over-taxed" rich people and their problems.

I think there’s a tendency to catastrophise to justify such an expensive decision. I sometimes speak to parents considering moving to state from private school and they are very worried about the move.

£45k is an awful lot, I presume that’s 2 children?

Someone living on a council estate now has a much more secure and affordable living situation than they would as a family in the private rental sector, where you're only a rent rise or a landlord selling up away from having to move your entire life at two months' notice, and where housing benefit will not cover your full rent should you be out of work. (And where renters cannot decorate their own homes nor have pets.) Council accommodation is like gold dust in the SE where private rents are crippling and impoverishing families.

That the Times uses this to indicate growing up poor shows how out of touch they are.

Mine all grew up in Essex and we never had that many kids. No.

Our local primary is two form entry and the classes are taught together and then split up through the day - the classes that are taught together are 60 kids altogether

Our primary was built in the 90s and you definitely can't fit more than 35 in a non-reception classroom. They are really small.

We do have a 45 intake split into 2 classes. This year the birth rate was so low they took in 29 and only had one reception classroom.

My friend’s child is in year 4 (not in Essex) and is in a class of 43.

ETA - it was split into two classes until this year but was combined to one for this year due to staffing. Not sure if it will stay that way in years 5&6.

I've seen 35/36 proposed in mixed age classes. It didn't happen as a fair few people moved their DC to other local schools or the private sector.

I live in rural Essex. Both my children had regular sized classes of around 25-30 in Primary school. I have not heard anything ever about classes of 45.

I live on the Essex London boarder and my parents (who are teachers) and a lot of my childhood friend live in Essex and have primary aged kids. I don’t know anyone who’s kids are in classes of more than 30. In fact in my area we have the opposite problem and schools are struggling to fill the classes.

Well, if this isn't the consequences of their own actions then.

Failing to calculate the cost/benefit ratio of that decision is on them.

You can't live a champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget.

It’s a typo for 35, the parents are exaggerating a more realistic number like 32 or the parents have mistaken an annual intake of 45 children to mean each class has 45 rather than it being mixed classes.

Back in the late 60's there were 48 of us in our class in junior school. 45 of us passed the11+. They broke the mould with Mr Kerr, he was a teacher in a million

They managed it in the 60s when I was at school 😉 theh also managed to get that amount of children proficient in reading writing and spelling at the age 7/8 as well

Yeah they moved extra tables into the classroom. Fortunately it was a fairly big room. It was a reasonably well behaved class (hence it being loaded up with kids).

the homework marking took forever

I think DS1 (in Sussex) is in a class of 32. I've never known any other classes at his primary to get over 33 though and the infants are always 30 or less.

I'm also not sure that sort of family has ever been able to afford private education for two children.
She is a "mum working in mental health for the NHS" and I am guessing she is not a doctor or they would have said that. So nurse/therapist perhaps.
He is a RAF engineer but it doesn't say officer/major/general etc.

They aren't really high earning jobs - I'm not saying they aren't worthy jobs but they aren't well paid.

A nurse and an non-senior officer military engineer have never been able to easily send children to a private school. The military may have paid in some circumstances if his career required him to be abroad or so on but outside that, they aren't really in the top 7pc of earners (only 7pc of kids go to private school).

Pressing all the right buttons here. NHS - check. Military family - check. Born on council estates and pulled selves up by boot straps - check.