The parent council of a Dundee primary school has raised concerns about the possible impact of a move to cut the legal maximum for class sizes.
At present P1 classes are not allowed to have more than 30 pupils, but the Scottish Government has been consulting on a proposal to reduce this to 25.
Non-statutory guidelines recommend a limit of 25.
Ministers want to bring the legal maximum down because parents in some parts of the country whose children were denied placing requests have gone on to win court cases that have forced schools to take them, even though that pushes pupil numbers above the 25 mark.
Dundee City Council already has a policy of no more than 25 pupils to a P1 class, although Labour group education spokesman and Ferry councillor Laurie Bidwell recently warned 400-pupil Barnhill Primary in his ward was already “bursting at the seams” and would have a full P1 intake next month.
Stephen Bain, who chairs Barnhill’s parent council, has written to ministers to say while he backs the proposed legislation, he has concerns about how it might operate in practice.
He said, “As the statutory requirement is 30, any legal challenge mounted has to be upheld if class size is under this number. If real progress is to be made in reducing class size, then the statutory requirement has to reflect this.
“My only concern would be in schools like Barnhill where there is no extra classroom space and the impact that this would have. I would not want the situation where children within the catchment area could not be granted a place.”
Mr Bain continued, “Any time class size is brought up the focus seems to be on the number of extra teachers required, however there must be schools which would need an extension.
“Whilst I am in favour of lower class sizes during infant years, my concern would be that the school would be unable to accommodate the number of children within the catchment who require a place.”
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Liz (perspicacious.org).