can someone explain infant class sizes to me?

[sharenicely]

I keep reading about infant class sizes in reference to appeals. If a schools admission is 18 or 22 does this mean there are another 12 or 8 places to appeal for?
There are quite alot in our LA that don't have the standard 15 or 30 classes.

Infant Class Size regulations state that there can be a maximum of 30 children for every one teacher. No more, unless they are an 'excepted pupil', which they can only be under certain very specific circumstances, and even then only for that one year in which they are admitted.

If a schools admission is 18 or 22, it might still be an Infant Class Size appeal, because there is no rule to say that they have to teach children only in classes of their own year group, and the ICS regulations apply to year R, 1 & 2.

So, they could have an admission of 18, but plan to teach 2 classes of 9 YR, 11 Y1 and 10 Y2, for example, meaning that each class would have a total of 30, so there wouldn't be any more space.

If they had an admission of 22 and only intended to have a class of 22, then yes, there would be scope for 8 parents to win on appeal before the next appeal became ICS. Having said that, those 8 parents would still need to show that the prejudice to the school by admitting, was outweighed by the prejudice against the child for not admitting.

Don't forget that PANs are not set arbitrarily. There is normally a very good reason why a school should only admit x children each year, such as space, resources, etc.

Thanks Lougle that explanation helps.
Does the number of teaching assistants not come into it then aslong as there is one teacher to 30?
One of the schools I know isn't doubling their year groups together so will only have 18 in the class.

I think that possibly there has been an adjustment to include Higher Level Teaching Assistants, but in general, it is only teachers with QTS.

infant class size max is 30.
some school have combined reception and year 1( and maybe year 2 as well) classes or combined reception and preschool class. this will affect the planned admission number (PAN).
Some schools will have class room so small they can't fit 30 children in. this will also affect the PAN.

Ok, so if the classroom is big enough for more than 18 and the admission no is 18 is it likely that an appeal would be successful?

just re read Lougles post, I would still need to prove the prejudice thing.

It also takes into account whether there will be room for addition children further up the school as well as in reception. Our primary has an intake of 45 into 2 classes of 22 and 23. So it appears that there is room for another 15 children. However year 1 and 2 are taught in 3 classes of 30 so infant class size regulations apply at this stage.

Lougles has explained it well. I would just confirm that teaching assistants don't enter into it. The number of pupils per qualified teacher is what matters.

With an admission number of 18 I would expect mixed year teaching and/or small classrooms. The appeal panel first has to consider whether there will be any prejudice to the school from admitting an additional child. If they decide there is no prejudice the child must be admitted. If they decide there will be some prejudice they then go on to consider the case to admit the child.

If you want to appeal you need to make the best possible case as to why this is the right school for your child. Look at things this school offers that the offered school does not and that will be of particular benefit to your child.

By the way, this advice assumes you are in England. If you are elsewhere in the UK the rules are a little different.

With a PAN that low, chances are they do teaching in mixed-age classes. 18 or 22 wouldn't be financially viable as a stand alone class in the State system.

You also need to understand where the PAN comes from and it can get complicated. Each school has what is called the agreed net capacity of the school. This is a nationally agreed way of measuring the capacity of the school for pupils. So it will measure all the rooms in the school, the school has the ability to say some rooms are not used as teaching rooms (SEN room, staff room etc).
Using a set amount of space per pupil, it then gives an overall maximum net capacity of the school. The school has to confirm what the agreed net capacity of the school is, which can be anywhere sensible between the maximum net capacity and 90% of that figure. The PAN is set around, in effect, the agreed net capacity divided by 7 (for the 7 year groups).
To give an easy example of that, if the maximum net capacity was 220, then it can be set between 220 and 198. The sensible figure would be 210, which then gives a PAN of 30 (30 x 7 = 210).
When you have a PAN of 18, it means that either you have 7 very,very small classrooms or more realistically a smaller number of normal size classrooms. Working it backwards the agreed net capacity is approximately 7 x 18 = 126. The probability is that this actually means the school has 4 normal sized classrooms capable of taking 30 pupils and the agreed net capacity is 120, which gives a figure between 17 and 18 and the PAN has therefore been set at 18.
18 is actually an awful number as a PAN as it means the school will potentially have horrible classes of 30 plus and problems with the infant class size regs depending on the actual numbers in each year group. The normal classes if there is a PAN of 18, would be to have years 5/6 in a class of 36, years 3/4 in a class of 36 and then split reception, year1 and year2 with 56 across 2 classes. As such if each class had 28, then any appeal would not be infant class size regs until they reach 30. However as a panel member I would be looking at the junior class sizes and saying to myself would I want to put another pupil into a class of 36 which the school has no option but to do, and the answer is no unless the case to admit is absolutely overwhelming.