HC Deb 06 June 2000 vol 351 cc178-9W
Mr. Edward Davey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the average c lass size in secondary schools in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames for each year since 1979. [123133]

Ms Estelle Morris

The information requested is shown in the following table. The latest provisional estimates for January 2000 show that as few as 0.9 per cent. of pupils were in one teacher classes of over 35 pupils in maintained secondary schools in Kingston upon Thames local education authority area.

Provisional national estimates of class sizes in maintained secondary schools in England were published in Statistical First Release "Class sizes in maintained schools in England: January 2000" on 14 April 2000. Information by local education authority area has been placed in the Library.

The element within the Kingston upon Thames SSA which relates to secondary pupils of compulsory school age has risen from £19.44 million in 1997–98 to £22.70 million in 2000–01. Over the same period, funding per secondary pupil of compulsory school age in the local education authority has increased in real terms from £3,010 to £3,300. It is open to Kingston upon Thames to use some of these increased resources to employ extra teachers.

In addition, schools in Kingston upon Thames received a total of £791,000 in direct grants in May 2000 as their share of the £290 million funding increase that was announced in the Budget of 21 March 2000.

Average class sizes taught by one teacher in maintained secondary schools in the local education authority area of Kingston upon Thames: 1979–2000 (provisional)
Position as at January
Year Number of pupils Number of classes Average class size
2000 7,970 366 21.8
1999 7,551 359 21.0
1998 7,584 361 21.0
1997 7,695 381 20.2
1996 7,563 375 20.2
1995 7,238 362 20.0
1994 6,844 334 20.5
1993 6,947 352 19.7
1992 6,849 361 19.0
1991 6,424 346 18.6
1990 6,192 338 18.3
1989 6,440 356 18.1
1988 6,797 360 18.9
1987 6,846 346 19.8
1986 7,262 387 18.8
1985 7,864 396 19.9
1984 8,132 407 20.0
1983 8,479 407 20.8
1982 8,641 430 20.1
1981 8,728 425 20.5
1980 8,836 440 20.1
1979 8,685 432 20.1