HC Deb 25 June 2001 vol 370 cc22-3W
Miss McIntosh

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the class sizes for(a) primary and (b) secondary schools were in (i) North Yorkshire and (ii) the City of York local education authorities on 1 May 2001 and projected for 1 May 2002. [5]

Mr. Timms

The available data are shown in the table.

Average class size—position in January each year
North Yorkshire City of York England
Primary schools
20001 25.8 26.4 27.1
2001 25.3 25.9 26.7
Secondary schools
20001 21.1 21.5 22.0
2001 21.1 21.1 22.0
1Provisional

The size of average primary classes has fallen nationally from 27.7 in 1998 to 26.7 in 2001; by September 2001 we expect that no infant class will have more than 30 pupils. Secondary class sizes nationally rose from under 20 in 1989 to 21.7 in 1997. Since then the growth has slowed and has remained at 22 for two years.

In 2001–02 secondary headteachers will receive an average of £70,000 and primary headteachers £24,000 in direct grant to spend as they choose including on reducing class sizes if that is their priority.

We do not have projections on average class sizes.

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