To think there should be more adults in reception class??

[TellerTuesday4EVA]

I'm really not sure on this one so wondering if I can ask how many adults there are/were in your child's reception classroom?

DD has just started reception, she's the oldest having just turned 5 but on the whole it's a very 'young' year group with the majority being summer born so not turning 5 until Easter onwards.

There's 29 in the class (boys heavily outnumbering girls). The classroom is large, very much free play approach with an outdoor area that's accessible all day but gated from the main playground. Luckily the toilets are within the classroom so they don't have to leave for that but I just feel they could do with another adult, even if just a student or similar.

Currently there's one teacher & one Teaching assistant

I'm not sure if I'm being unreasonable because I'm comparing to my nephews class, he's in year one a another local school but there's 1 teacher & 4 TA's admittedly 3 of the TA's are each designated to a particular child with SEN but there's still extra sets of eyes & hands around the classroom.

How does that compare to your child's class?

1 teacher 1 TA to a 30-children class is totally normal. Not many schools could afford more.

22 students, one teacher, one TA.

That's perfectly normal. If there are TAs assigned to particular children that's because those children need them. They don't count as adults for the rest of the class because their attention is given to the child they work with.

Similar to my child who has just started, 30 children, 1 teacher and 1 TA. Was thinking the same thing this week, not sure how they manage it!! My child was in the nursery attached last year and it was 4 staff in there for the 30 of them.

It's perfectly normal and in years passed it would most likely have just been 1 teacher. It certainly was when I did my training.

Schools are funded for 1 teacher, 1 TA for a class of 30. You could fund raise for the school for an extra one, but that’s a lot of bbqs and fetes.

One teacher and one ta sounds normal from what I know of the UK. If you think there should be more, perhaps you should set up a rota of parents - as it's your idea you'd need to take a lead role. Guessing it doesn't appeal?

1 teacher and 1 TA is totally normal for reception. In older year groups they will probably share a TA with another class or two. Some children get their own TA due to their particular needs but usually that is paid for by the additional money the school gets to meet their needs. If that child left then so would the TA. Schools just can't afford more at the moment - but students are always around and one may turn up. He students are mostly in uni at the moment as they've just started the course.

1 teacher
1TA
2 play assistants

Smaller class numbers , more staff in an ideal world great however schools are struggling to pay for the staff they have so never going to happen.

When i trained it was just a teacher in a class of 30 infants.
Then TAs became more and more common.
Then foundation phase came in and a lot if classes had 2 TAs and a teacher.
Now budgets are cut and ratios tweaked by the govt so 1 teacher and 1 TA is the norm.

Juniors....no TAs in my year.

What are you concerned about?

That sounds normal for most schools. Our school is a small village school and mine only had 11 in her reception class with 1 teacher and TA, but that’s just because it’s so tiny.

That’s normal, we have 2 form intake, 60 children with 2 teachers and 2 TAs.

My DD's has two reception classes merged together in a big room free flow with outside too.

So 60 kids 2 teachers 2 TA's and a helper or two bobbing in and out.

My DD had an accident one day that no one saw so I did wonder whether there is enough eyes however I've worked in schools and fully appreciate the pressure and constraints they are under.

On a side note the whole thing of schools paying for their staff themselves is batshit. Should be paid from a centralised authority imo. Then you won't run into problems like schools trying to get experienced staff out (more expensive) and having as many nqts as possible to save money.

The one to ones in your nephews class are exactly that, although obviously they can intervene with the other children if necessary.

1 teacher 1TA is the norm. The SEN TAs will not be watching or helping other children, they only focus on their nominated 1:1 child.

I teach year 1 and often my TA has to cover so it’s just me and 30 5 year olds. Those days are fun but we get by!

One teacher and one teaching assistant is the norm but you're not unreasonable in thinking that it isn't enough. Schools just do not have the funds to employ more staff. In our school, the Reception staff are very much stretched as so many children cannot manage the toilet by themselves, get dressed or put on a coat. It's all hands on deck in the dining hall at lunchtime as many of the children expect to be spoon fed. It's shocking.

That’s a normal ratio. It’s handy to have extra TAs in the room but with the cuts to education funding that’s rarer and rarer.

That's normal in my experience. I'm also sure that soon the school will ask if there are any volunteers to go in and help, so there may well be an opportunity for you there.

Double entry in a free flow classroom, 2 teachers, 3 TAs - but 1 of each is normal.

Completely normal