How big is a big class?

[teacherspets]

My friend's son is in a class of 32 children which I think is massive (year 5). Is it legal to have more than 30?

Disclaimer: I know little of the state system. My kids classes have 14 kids and I have 19 in my class so opinion might be skewed.

[firehousedog1]

32 for primary school seems a lot. There are only 57 children in our local school between three classes

[phlebasconsidered]

I have 35 in my class. Marking takes forever, we are crammed into the room and I hate it. No TA either. It's crowd control, not teaching.

[VanessaShanessaJenkins]

Thankfully when I had 39 kids in my class I was childfree and keen! It involved very very long hours but I also didn't know any different. Making, assessing, everything took forever!

[OhDearGodLookAtThisMess]

I don't think I've ever had more than 30 in a KS2 class, but last year I somehow ended up with only 25. Oh my God, the difference!

Teaching would almost be manageable if that was standard.

[ItWasntMeItWasIm]

I thought it was capped at 28 in Scotland but poster up thread might know more.

Pretty sure combination classes are capped at 25 - we don't have any classes that aren't mixed. 18 in my son's class.

[RamsayBoltonsConscience]

I taught a year 5 class of 38 a few years ago. It was very challenging but it forced me to develop more efficient feedback systems so that the marking didn't kill me. Numbers are only capped at 30 for KS 1

[tomhazard]

Legal but not ideal for students or teachers. DD is ks1 now so capped at 30 but if she ends up in classes of massive sizes at ks2 I will put her in a private school.
I teach in private- classes are max 22 at primary and max 18 at secondary. It makes a huge difference to how much time the teacher has for attention and marking.

[HenryInTheTunnel]

I would say 32 is a big class.

Out of interest, how are people ending up with classes of 35+?? Is it because children are getting in on appeal and you just have to cobble through? Or is it a disproportionately large year group that doesn't take you over the whole school PAN?

[Scooby23]

Son in class of 37 for second year running - year 5 x

[teacherspets]

Wow, 32 shocked me but 37!!! That's double my class. Presumably with that huge class there must be a teacher plus two TAs (at least i blooming hope so!!).

[VanessaShanessaJenkins]

I ended up with 38/39 because we had a stupid admission number of 75. The head didn't want mixed year classes so the 75 were split between 3 classes, making classes of 37 and 38. Sometimes an extra 1 or 2 would then get in on appeal. To be honest when you've got 37/38 it isn't much different to have 39!

[y0rkier0se]

I have 24 this year, bliss!! Our reception currently has 35 - 5 are looked after children so are admitted despite being full to the brim.

[PicInAttic]

I had 38 two years ago with some TA support and they were lovely but had a really difficult class of 25 last year. Would have swapped back in an instant!
My ideal number is 24 to 28.

[Stillwishihadabs]

Both DCs have been in KS2 classes of 34-37, it's not great tbh, very little individual attention. As PP said crowd control, we got round it with paying for private tuition

[ItWasntMeItWasIm]

I am honestly shocked that such big class sizes are allowed.

[Holidayshopping]

I had a class of 38 year 4s about ten years ago-it was really shit. No TA either. The planning didn’t take much longer but the marking was hideous. There was just no room in the classroom for them all and we couldn’t function with resources being spread so thinly-laptops shared between 3/4 etc!

[user1471468296]

Wow, 32 shocked me but 37!!! That's double my class. Presumably with that huge class there must be a teacher plus two TAs (at least i blooming hope so!!).

Around my area at least, general class TAs are almost unheard of now. I've never known of two TAs in a KS2 class unless they are attached to specific children. Bear in mind these massive classes probably also include a number of children with SEND who some years ago would have qualified for funding or perhaps even have been in special school, and now get no or very little support. The whole situation is shocking. Agree with pp that at times it's simply crowd control.

[Aragog]

I have 24 this year, bliss

Last week as the children were settling into their new classes, when I covered m, I was often only having 15-20 in the class, whilst the TA was working with the others. Was fab - we got so much more done and the individual support for each child was so much more beneficial.

It'll be back to normal this week though.

[DanSullivan]

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if classes could be capped at 25? I know that’s not going to happen, but it’d make a huge difference to children and teachers.

I’ve been in the independent sector for eight years now and we have very small classes, so my view is a bit skewed. I have ten in my class this year and our biggest class is fifteen. I have no idea how you’re all keeping above water with 30+ children.

[RamsayBoltonsConscience]

When I had my 38, it was just a very small year group PAN was 60 but only had the 38. There was no money to employ an extra teacher because we didn't have the numbers. I was promised that if it went over 40, they would employ someone else but we just bobbed along at 38🙄. I had a really good LSA in the mornings and a crap one in the afternoons.

[Hoozz]

I sit on appeals and the 30 cap causes huge difficulties.
Large classes are not new .When I was in year 6 in the 1960s there were 52 in my class .
My DC went to the village school and there were 5 in DS's year. Taught in mixed year groups so classes of about 15.

[Holidayshopping]

Large classes are not new .When I was in year 6 in the 1960s there were 52 in my class

No, I agree.

I do think things were very different then though!

Pre the national curriculum, teachers were a lot more free to teach what they wanted and what would suit their particular class. There were no end of year targets or expectations for each child to meet, the assessment alone of which would take hours for 30 children, let alone 52. If these weren’t met, the teacher’s pay was unaffected and they didn’t risk capability proceedings for it.

Expectations of marking were totally different (ticks and crosses don’t take long!) whereas deep marking does! Most children with significant SEN would also have been at special schools. Teachers (not all!) used corporal punishment and schools were able to suspend/exclude children without fines to the school or such decisions being over-ridden by the LEA as well.

[ifIonlyknew]

not a teacher but my children have been in classes of 32 since year 3. all schools locally same, all completely full. no TAs in specific classes above year 3 unless one to one.

[ifIonlyknew]

should add to the mix over 70% EAL