Class sizes are up for fourth year in a row

CLASS sizes in England’s secondary schools are getting bigger, as the number of pupils rose for the fourth year in a row.

According to Government figures, there is now the equivalent of one extra pupil in every classroom compared to five years ago.

And the proportion of children in larger classes has also increased since last year, with about one in eight taught in groups of more than 30.

Geoff Barton, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: ‘Schools have had to make huge budget cuts over the past three years because Government funding hasn’t kept pace with rising costs. Many have had to cut teaching posts, which inevitably means larger classes.’

Overall there are now 66,000 more children in schools compared to the same point last year, with the majority of the increase, 35,400, affecting secondaries.

School minister Nick Gibb said: ‘Although we have more children in our education system than ever before, the average primary class size is still 27.1 and the average secondary class size shows little change at 21.2. This is thanks to the 825,000 school places we have created since 2010 – the largest expansion since the 1970s.’