Class sizes

[Turefu]

My son is about to start year 3. Just got list with new class names, 34 children in the class! AIBU to think it's too many? I know it'll be 32, as two children are leaving soon altogether. Still, 32 children. They also joined years, year 1 with year 2, year 3 with year 4 and so on. I don't like it. I know there's no much I can do about it, but I'd like to know, are classes of this size common. It's a little town school.

Just moved dd from a school with 32 per class now she’s in one that’s 21 but I’d say 30 is the norm where I am

Depends

Is there a TA? Are there many disruptive kids? Do they have a decent behaviour policy?

Yep-perfectly normal in KS2. I had 37 in my last year 4 class.

GreenTulips, yes, there's TA.

Thank you for all replies. I hoped it will be less kids in one class. But I guess it's necessity.

The problem is if it’s mixed years then two separate classes of 16 wouldn’t be possible on most school budgets. It makes much more sense to combine the classes and resources.

It’s not ideal but in KS2 it’s quite normal

I changed my son's school from one with class sizes of around 32/33 to one with 19. It's made a world of difference to him, but I think his personality is much better suited to a smaller class size. Other kids might fare better in a larger class.
Teachers I know though say teaching is much easier in a smaller class, you're supervising more than teaching in larger ones....

My biggest classes were 33 & 34, but I know of colleagues who had classes of 37 and 39. Budgets are beyond tight. The infant class size limit has to be met, so KS2 gets the short straw.

32 in ours. I blame the government.

KS2 always loses out. No other sector has classes of up to 34 children.

DD in Y2, and we're looking of moving her from 26 to a class of 33. I have to decided by tomorrow and really dont know. She is quiet and struggles in one subject but the TA in her current class says things like 'let your partner do it's'. Shd has the same TA going into Y3.

Moving schools

DD's class is 32

DS's class is 36 year 2 now going into year 3.

Actually they do. Our local Grammars can have 33/34. Successful appeals.

No school can afford 16 in a class. It simply isn’t possible and most schools need 28-30 to make sense of the budget. If they have 19, cuts will be made elsewhere to do this.

Schools have had over 30 in ks2 for ever! In my primary we had 39 and no TA! 32 with a decent TA is fine.

I’m not a fan of mixed classes. But that’s another story. Again a good teacher and TA helps but this is a small school problem and it’s not ideal.

36 in ks1 is illegal. Why were so many admitted? They cannot all be priority admissions surely?

That sounds about right for my sons school. My youngest is starting in the nursery class there and he's in a class of about the same, my nephew us I'm going to be in a class of 47!

*nephew is

My cousin is a Year 1 teacher in a primary school. Small rural village location. So long as l can remember, she's had well over 30 in every class. This year it's 36.

I think it's very usual - and I was in a class of 32 back in the 1980s! Whether it is OK or not for your child depends much more on how the teacher deals with dirsutoive behaviour and how other children in the class behave and have their needs met etc.

Re the mixing of year groups - my dc are in a school with mixed year groups and it works realy well for both learning and social groups. I love how they all consider themselves friends and look out for each other. Most teachers are very used to dealing with a wide range of abilities in a single class regardless of age.

YANBU, that’s a lot. We have restrictions on class sizes in Scotland. My son was in a class of 32 and it was basically a rabble. We moved him school (he has autism) and he’s in a class of 19 now.

Mixed/composite classes are fine and again (here anyway) there are limits on class sizes, no more than 25. Having had a child in a straight class of over 30 and a mixed one of 25 I know what I prefer.

No school can afford 16 in a class.
Unless I've misunderstood you, yes they can. My dd's school has 9 in her class, that's Y5 and Y6 in together.

Our local school has 38 in reception. They say it works as they have 3 TAs and outstanding results. But as a teacher I am not convinced. So we chose the other school.

Heartofglass12345
47!!! They must have a huge class room!!!
And hopefully 2 Ta's at least.