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

[Dabralor]

Hello. Just read the most bizarre article in the Sunday times about a family - they pay 45 grand a year to fund their children through private school, supposedly to avoid them having to use the state sector where there are ‘often’ 45 children in a class. Surely this can’t be true? I’ve never heard of this is 25 years teaching primary, albeit not in Essex.

(For those concerned, the family can no longer afford gym membership, beauty treatments or more than one foreign holiday a year. And moving to Dubai is not an option.)

We had a class of 38 in my previous school. Up until then 36 was the max.

I'm in Essex. My local primary has an intake of 45 per year. It had historically been under subscribed and unpopular, but a lot of housing development meant it did start getting filled up. They did have 1 reception teacher for one Reception year that had the maximum and used HLTA to cover between the 2 classes. Many parents were unhappy but as an academy they could legally do this. I've no idea how they've organised it since.

The site used to be a separate infant and junior school which made splitting the reception year awkward

There's a couple of other with 45 intake, but just do mixed year groups.

My DD went to a school in Essex and was in a reception class of 44. They split the class with a bifold wall. One class got the teacher and my DD’s got the HLTA who worked together.

We’ve since moved because of the poor education she received at that school. She’s now in a mixed year group of about 21 with 11 in her year group. She’s thriving and the education she now receives is just worlds apart from what she had.

I read the article this morning. The parents haven't done themselves any favours. Had the wife chosen not to work, the RAF would have paid the fees and they would have had military housing. She has every right to work. They have every right to send their children to a private school. In other words, they made choices and didn't think through the consequences, including affordability should fees rise. Along the way, they've rubbished stare education. Well done, The Times.

I work in a large state secondary (non teaching role) and was a governor at primary for many years. Most I’ve seen is 34 which has happened in both KS2 and KS3. But it’s rare rather than often.

They’ve grossly exaggerated to try to justify their decision. Also, the ‘unofficial Send register’ they claim their son is on sounds like another attempt at justification. I’m guessing it’s what my school would class as SEN support - milder SEN that can be managed without recourse to an EHCP. State schools can also offer this. As for their daughter being the youngest in the year, well someone has to! They would have had the option to defer entry into reception if they’d felt she would benefit from being one of the oldest rather than the youngest.

Not exactly - they call it 'freeflow' which doesn't imply two separate classes. So how come we have large class sizes in Essex and the rest of the country doesn't? 👀

In the early noughties my comprehensive had some classes much bigger than that, because they split some into top set (in the lecture room type thingy-the room was removed a few years later) with 70 odd kids, the middle set with about 35, and the bottom with far fewer.
This was not in every class, and as I moved countries, I can't say how typical it was, but my primary started with fewer than 30 kids and then we ended up with 50.
If we're talking now, my kids were officially in classes of no more than 30, but they mixed up year groups for some things, and because some children needed a lot more support, some of the ones who don't tend to say they get ignored as long as they're behaving.
Friends who are teachers now tell me it's not about the numbers as much as not having enough extra support for all the children who need it, which is what my kids say, more or less.

I looked around a primary that had that same set-up (also in Essex) and it was utter bedlam. Completely open plan with 60 reception kids, 2 class teachers. I can't remember how many LSAs there were

I agree, unfortunately in my area the school sold it as being great to potential parents, did they use the word 'freeflow' might be the same school.

My sons school had 66 start in one reception, not enough to fund 3 teachers and too many for 2. They created a free flow system between 2 teacher and 3 tas over 3 classrooms. They ideally try not to go over 30 a class.