Yorkshire’s overcrowded classroooms breaking law

A total of 6,905 five to seven-year-olds in the region are currently being taught in classes with more than the 30 pupil limit, with only London, West Midlands and the South East having larger average class sizes in England.

Of this figure, 1,425 pupils are classed as being taught in classes which are “unlawfully large”.

The figures, published by the Department for Education also reveal the number of parents in Yorkshire successfully appealing against their children’s school placing is falling and that 15 per cent of pupils at Yorkshire schools do not speak English as their first language.

Nationally 43,065 five to seven-year-olds are now taught in classes with more than 30 pupils, a figure which has risen by a more than a third since last year and almost doubled in five years.

Under current rules, there are certain circumstances in which schools can legally have an infants class of more than 30, for example if a parent wins an appeal for a place.

Even taking these into consideration, there are still almost 10,000 pupils in England being taught in 310 “unlawfully” large classes.

Yorkshire’s average class size remains 26.7, slightly lower than the national average of 26.9 – a figure inflated by London schools having such large class sizes.

Bradford was shown to be by far the worst city for large class sizes, with 2,594 pupils being taught in classrooms with more than 30 pupils.

The DfE statistics also showed that just under half of all pupils in the local authority area spoke English as their first language. In all 50,290 children in Yorkshire do not speak English as their mother tongue, a picture reflected by almost a million schoolchildren nationally.

The figures also show that more than one in four primary school pupils are from an ethnic minority.

A DfE spokesman said: “Having English as a second language doesn’t always mean that English skills are necessarily poor.

“It only shows the language to which the child was initially exposed to early on at home, irrespective of whether they speak English fluently later on – the evidence is clear that once English is established, children catch up and even overtake their peers.”

The statistics, providing a snapshot of the modern British classroom, were collected in January this year but have only just been made available to the public.

They show that rising numbers of pupils are eligible for Free School Meals – a measure of poverty – and that more youngsters are taking them up.

The also reveal that a total of 8,410 parents in Yorkshire failed to get their children into their first choice of school, with the number of successful appeals against school placement also falling in the region.

Again Bradford was home to the largest number of parents appealing against the council’s decision regarding where their children were placed, with nearly one in five parents launching appeals. Hull City Council had the highest success rate for appeals with nearly 70 per cent of parents who appealed against the council’s decision being successful.

However regionally the new figures show that only 2,520 parents won their appeal, with less than one in four being successful.

It is thought that intense pressure on primary school places, due to the rising birth rate, is fuelling the rise in appeals.

Nationally statistics show that 85,165 appeals were lodged by parents against primary and secondary school allocations in 2009/10, slightly down from 88,275 the previous year.

Of these, 60,855 were heard by independent panels, with 18,110 cases decided in favour of the parents.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “It is clear that rising birth rates are increasing demand and pressure on primary places, with more parents unhappy with the lack of choice open to them.

“The education system has rationed places in good schools for too long, which is why our reforms are designed both to drive up standards in the weakest performers and allow more children to go to the best.”

He added that the Government was encouraging more groups to set up free schools, and 200 of the worst primaries are to be turned into academies.

All parents have the right to appeal if any school they applied to refuses their child a place, with parents allowed to argue that schools broke official admissions rules or that there are “compelling” extra reasons why their child deserves a place.