Class sizes

[nicurro]

Hi , does anyone know if their is legislation in the Doncaster area which states what the maximum class size in a primary school is?

30 in KS1, no limit in KS2

Not completely true - the only LEGAL limit is in reception which is based on teacher to pupil ratio (1:30), but there are even ways to get around this.

It is stated as 30 for KS1 but is not legislation - it can be exceeded. The only legislation outside of foundation stage is based on room size/ floor space/ health and safety (and you'd be amazed how many kids they'd let you squeeze into a room!).

woopwoop I beg to differ

The infant class size legislation applies to all infant classes (Reception and KS1), it is part of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

Ok - maybe, but it makes absolutley no difference. It is perfectly legal to have infant class sizes over 30. Many, many schools do and it is the LA who puts the children into these classes. The school can not quote any legislation to prevent them from taking another child if the family appeal and the LA places them in that school.

Yes there are a very limited number of circumstances where a child is allowed to be admitted as an "excepted" pupil and push the class size over 30, however this exception only applies for the remainder of the academic year - if the class is over 30 at the start of the next year then another teacher must be employed.

woopwoop - Betsy is absolutely right.

The legislation requires that there should be no more than 30 children with a single teacher in any class which is predominantly infants, i.e. Reception, Y1 and Y2. There are only limited circumstances in which it is permissible to go over that number due to "excepted children", such as children admitted as a result of successful appeals. However, those children are only "excepted" for one year. Thereafter they count towards the class size limit. For this reason it is actually more likely that Reception will be over the class size limit than Y1 or Y2.

With appeals it is actually the appeal panel that admits the child, not the LA. If admitting the child will cause the class to go over 30 the panel should only admit if the LA has made a mistake and offered a place to the wrong child.

Nicurro,
Betsy and PRH have given the correct answer. Do you have a particular problem on class numbers, that made you ask the question?

Hi , my daughter is in a class of 33 pupils in Y3 , the class does look overcrowded.
Also there is a mixed class of Y2 & Y3 pupils which only has 16 pupils in it so the inbalance is quite obvious.
My concern is for the teachers ability to accurately monitor each pupil in the class and to afford the time for equal learning.
The school has made these changes which resulted in them employing one less teacher.

Perfectly legal - but how bizarre. Why on Earth would you have 1 class of 33 and 1 class of 16?

Agree with IndigoBell that this is legal but bizarre. The mixed class can legally have up to 30 children in it if the majority of the children are Y2. If the majority of the children are Y3 there is no limit. I can think of a few possible explanations (small classroom, for example) but it is an odd split. Have the school given any reason for this split?

Yes very bizarre to have such a difference in class size especially in a mixed age class.
There must be a logical explanation otherwise the teachers involved would have been moaning. Why don't you ask for a meeting with the head teacher to say that you are concerned that your daughter is in a very big class in comparison with the other class and you are concerned that your daughter's education may suffer. You should then get an answer from the head about why the small class.
The most obvious answer is that the school is using a very small room for the class of 16 because of too many pupils causing issues around the infant class size regs.