[13
APR 00] COVENTRY CITY COUNCIL NEWS
Coventry Class Sizes Fall
BY ANTONY HOPKER
The
majority of class sizes in Coventry schools are lower that the
national average, according to government figures.
Figures
released today by the Department for Education and Employment show
that primary schools are better than the national average, while
secondary schools are slightly higher.
At
Key Stage One the number of pupils in classes of 31 or more in
Coventry is 680 – just 6.4 per cent of the 10,550 pupils. The
national average is 11 per cent.
Classes
taught by one teacher in the city have an average of 25.4 pupils,
compared with a national figure of 25.8 pupils.
The
figure for youngsters at Key Stage Two in classes of 31 or more is
4,590. This is 32.9 per cent of the total 13,970 in this age range.
The national average is 38 per cent.
Class
sizes are 28.2 pupils per one teacher class – just below the 28.3
national average.
Overall
in primary schools in Coventry class sizes average 26.8 pupils, 0.3
below the national norm, while 22 per cent of city youngsters are in
classes of 31 or more. Nationally, this figure is 26 per cent.
In
Coventry’s secondary schools the average class size in 22.5 pupils,
compared to a national average of 22.
The
percentage of pupils in classes of 31 or more in Coventry is 11.8,
which 2,170 of the 18,390 pupils – slightly above the national
average of 11.3 per cent.
Cllr
George Duggins, chairman of the Education and Cultural Affairs Policy
Co-ordinating Committee, said:
“One
of the keys to rising educational standards must be smaller class
sizes.
“I
am delighted that we are making progress in this direction at all
key stage levels.
“Naturally
there is a concern that these advantages are not lost at subsequent
stages in a pupil’s school career, and Coventry is progressing in
this area also.”
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