Written question WQ91150
- Asked by
- Andrew RT DaviesConservative
- To be answered by
- Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 5 days
Question
How does the Minister plan to address cases where some class sizes in Wales are exceeding 30 pupils?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
The School Admissions (Infant Class Sizes) (Wales) Regulations 2013 impose a statutory limit of 30 on infant classes (subject to a limited number of exceptions set out in legislation).
The Welsh Government also has a clear policy that junior class sizes should have 30 or fewer pupils, in line with the statutory limit on infant age classes. Schools are required to ensure compliance with the infant class size limit and encouraged to meet the junior class size target whenever possible. We monitor class sizes on an annual basis.
Current published data (2023) shows the average infant class size in Wales was 24.8 and junior classes were 25.7, both a decrease on previous years. Nine infant classes (0.2%) were recorded as in breach of the legislation. There were 135 (2.5%) junior classes above the desired size of 30.
Planning of school places is the responsibility of local authorities. They have a duty to ensure there are sufficient schools providing primary and secondary education for their area.