Bulge classes are negative.But most schools will have them next year.

[Oblomov]

Unpresidented Baby Boom Year, for admissions next year, for Sep 13.
All our local schools are talking about having bulge classes, for next year.
But lets be honest, not much about them is postive, are they ?
They affect everything. Everyone. Throughout the school.
When I mentioned this to mums in the playground yesterday, they were very saddened and talking about how disruptive it was to the whole school.
I just can't see a positive spin on this.

Hmm....As a child I had to have some lessons in a port-a-cabin and I assure you they are not "ok"!!

It was freezing cold, damp and the children in the port-a-cabin classes were bullied by the other kids who were in their nice warm classrooms.

Ok, this was a long time ago (ahem) 25 years actually, but port-a-cabins are a very poor learning envoronment IMHO.

Oh Badvoc, I remember those! Awful things.

(pedants: don't you just love some forward planning. Policy/business speak redundancies are my favourite form of talking bollocks jargon).

My primary school must've had what are now called bulge classes before I started there. They had 'huts' in the playground to use as classrooms that were pulled down when I was in P4. There were only 24 in my class, and about the same in my sister's class (2 years below me), so they clearly didn't need the extra capacity permanently. It didn't destroy the school or anything. We thought the huts were cool and wished we'd get them as our classroom.

I was in a 'bulge' class some 40 years ago at Primary school. Our DS1 was a year 2000 baby which was yet another bulge year. They happen every so often and of course people are worried but really they don't make that much difference. I was taught in a Portacabin.

As others say, just try being in a school that is merging 2 years in one class because its roll is falling so a teacher is teaching Yr1 and Yr 2 in the same class. Had experience of that too and it is a lot less good than a 'bulge' class.

MrsMicawber obviously has had a bitter expereicne, which has meant she has has not been allocated a school in her catchement. Many parents are in her position. And I have total sympathy.
But to call me a ninbyist is just clouded, nonsense.
Point me out the post that said I was campaiging/had complained to the schools that I didn't want a bulge class? Can't find my post that says that? Nope. Didn't think you would be able to, either.
Do you think I am goign to even try and persuade ALL the local schools not to have bulge classes. Of course I'm not. Don't be so stupid.
Its just that these are not actual bulge clasees as such. this is a change in birth rate. continuously getting a bigger and bigger issue. Thus, it should have already been dealt with by councils, in a proper way. Rather than just a knee jerk re-action , at the end, and telling everyone, 'oh just get a bulge class'.
Its insulting to us as parents for them to trivualise the effect of all of this on every pupil and the wider community.

Some one asked for a definition of a "bulge" class.

A "bulge " class is an extra reception class of 30 pupils, created in an existing school by the LEA. It is a one off. And it can be done at fairly short notice, for example when the admissions process discloses a problem. As such most schools can physically accommodate a bulge class if they have to and portocabins are a LOT better than they were.

A permanent increase in intake to a school takes longer, requires the space to be there, may need a new building, and has to go through a formal consultative process.

Sometimes a bulge class one year is followed by a permanent expansion later, after the proper processes have been gone through.

A bulge class, well managed, need do no harm, and in the case of a one form entry actually have its plus points.

Nearly every school near here (South London) has had at least one bulge class in the last 3 years. Some will probably have to have a bulge class again next year.

We were totally screwed last year until DD got into a bulge class at a brilliant school for reception. Only place offered was a 40 min walk each way, not in our local area, wouldn't have known anyone, etc.
As a result she's in a lovely local school with 11 children from her nursery. What's not to like!
I can't believe you think a bulge class is negative - it has huge positives.

dd1's class was a bulge class - 40 instead of 30, the first time her school had been oversubscribed. She ended up in a small class of 20 children (as the school had to provide more teachers and TAs), until Y2 at which point enough overseas kids had moved back to Sweden or Australia or wherever for numbers to drop below 30. She's now in a Y3 class of 26 kids, and its all been rather lovely.

dd2's class is not a bulge class, but a busy class of 30. I think dd1 lucked out

My nearest school has 4 bulge classes (was 1 form entry, so now over half the years are 60 not 30 children). It was causing great problems as they were running out of space, but now they've received funding to build a new building and be 2-form entry properly.

the next nearest is similar, only going from 2 to 3-form and with more space. for me its good as chances are ds will go to whichever one has the bulge next year before the new buildings are done.

and I went to a top private school and got taught in portakabins a lot. they were ok. It did make it clear which teachers the head didn't like!

And a 'bulge' class is not necessarily a whole extra class of 30 - it can be, but it can also be a 'too big' class as dd's was. Which ended up forming two much smaller classes.

Our school has a bulge class and a mobile classroom. I can assure those of you who had childhood experiences of portacabins, modern proper mobile classrooms are absolutely nothing like them. The children who get to be in there love it, and there is distinct disappointment amongst those who don't. That said, our school planned it carefully so that it was not the younger children using this facility. None of my children is in the bulge year. I've not heard about any problems with younger sibling entry in future non bulge years. The only real issue I've seen with the bulge year was when the KS1 playground was jam-packed in the winter when the grassy areas couldn't be used. Had the school been permanently expanded to 3 form entry it would have required a huge amount of building work, not just the extra classroms, but toilets, dining hall, assembly hall etc, but for one class it's fine . Maybe if the school were shorter of space it would have been more of a problem?

In many ways bigger schools are better than smaller schools:

• more money
• more staff
• (usually) more clubs
• bigger pool of friends for DCs
• more take-up of breakfast and after school clubs

where we are, I don't think we need to worry about porta-cabins, being built and then not utilised. All private nurseries are full. Few children at the local nurseries have their 15 hours. Most have only 2.5, 3 or 5 hrs a week. Not the 15 they are supposed to. They have waiting lists of 39 or 46 chilren for e.g. Early years have been aware of thei problem for some time, so they did know this school problem was coming.

Word is, every local school will be asked ot cretae a new 'bulge' class of 30. And this will still nowhere near cover the applications. Many will be left with none of their choices allocated. Presumably this still leaves many many children going to school out of their catchment.

I was the bulge year at my school and from YR to Y4 that was great 2x classes of 20. Ex secondary modern so plenty of space.

Then one teacher got married and moved away. The cheapskate council decided that for the rest of primary we could form one, very mixed ability, class of 40.

DD2s class is 32, it is too big!

Personally I think buldge classes to split entry's of 40-50 may be a win, smaller classes being worth the squash at break and dinner.
However, most primary class rooms are bursting with 30 and shoehorning that many again in to temporary accommodation needs real organisation and thought.

Well, as someone up the thread pointed out, whether a bulge class is perceived as a good thing or a bad thing overall is a lot to do with the attitude of the school and the LA. We're in another incredibly 'bulging' part of London and choose to see our bulge as incredibly positive and a fantastic opportunity for us to do some of the things we've wanted to. And there are 30 families who are overjoyed.

Finances are tight and LAs understandably don't want to commit to permanent expansion, particularly since right now, at least in our LA, more families than normal may be using state primaries due to economic pressures, and free schools are on the cards and may open up new places in the next few years.

Primary planning is notoriously difficult as the children are only 4 when they start - so you can't see much more than 3 years ahead.

Some positive things about our bulge: another 30 families get to walk to school, increasing our community spread; friends from nursery get to stay together; a fabulous new build, fulfilling some of the aspirations we've had for years; a chance to try out new teaching structures; exciting teaching dynamics in the 3 form entry year; benefits of scale for catering; larger peer groups for children of all ability ranges; more parents to contribute to our PTA fundraising; more parents to offer their expertise to the school; an opportunity to look really creatively at the space we have and the way we use it.

Not just a problem in London and Surrey - 3,000 extra places needed in Bristol by 2015 see link here Bristol Primary school places
Actually it's not all negative at all. Funding for schools is linked to pupil numbers so larger schools have more choice about how to spend their money and can have better facilities than smaller schools.
If you chose a particular school because it was small, then yes I can appreciate that it is frustrating for parents who already have children at the school to find that the school is changing in character. But in order for a community school to represent the local community (and for children without siblings to attend their local school), it may need to adjust to meet these changing circumstances and using bulge classes is a flexible way of doing this.

Well I don't think DS as quiet well behaved struggling DC has benefited by being in a class of 33.

But I can't see what the alternative is - well actually better planning and awareness of increase birth rates.

I keep reading about Bristol places - kind of scary as it looks like we'll be moving there in next few years and I'll have several primary school places to find .

it's not just birth rates - it's also moving to cities and town rates (away from some rural schools), immigration rates particularly from the EU, and reduction in our area of the rate of people moving out of London when dc hit school age. Result: "there has been a 25 per cent increase in birth rate and a 40 per cent
increase in applications to primary schools." in my end of the borough.

I can appreciate singers postive story.
Nearly all the schools were I live are really quite small.
But as you all so point out, there is nothing that can be done about this. This has to go ahead to 'house' the children that need school places. I do of course ,and always did, realise that !!

I'm in Bristol. Our primary school expanded last year, so not a bulge year, now is 4-form entry permanently. I'm not madly happy about it, as the school was already handling the fact that the seperate infant/juniors merged just 2 yrs ago.

But in our case we definitely need new buildings (portacabins a go go) and I think the deal was: expand and we'll cough up the cash for new buildings...

at whoever it was complaining about the 'bulge' class being housed in a portakabin.
You mean you want some other person's child to be in there?