Today, Labour have launched plans to improve primary schools in Swindon by capping class sizes, this follows a new report which shows that the number of infant pupils in large classes in Swindon has jumped by 137% since the Conservatives took government.
Today, Labour have launched plans to improve primary schools in Swindon by capping class sizes, this follows a new report which shows that the number of infant pupils in large classes in Swindon has jumped by 137% since the Conservatives took government.
"If elected, Labour will implement a comprehensive plan to ensure class sizes are cut in Swindon." – Anne Snelgrove
The Tories have scrapped Labour’s policy to cap infant class sizes at 30 pupils. The proportion of class sizes bigger than this has trebled. That means the number of youngest children taught in such classes has risen by over 60,000. There are now 377 children taught in large classes in Swindon, compared to 169 in January 2010. This is especially problematic given that 44% of primary schools in Swindon are already full.
This is in part because the Tories’ Free School programme has opened schools in areas that have a surplus of places. It has seen more than 30,000 places created in areas where they were not needed over this Parliament. On these trends if the Tories win a second term, the number of classes over 30 is on course to grow to 11,000 – a number close to the deeply damaging levels we inherited in 1997.
Anne Snelgrove, Labour’s candidate for South Swindon, said: “Today’s report shows that the Robert Buckland’s Tory government have failed to prioritise put the education of our children in Swindon. For 5 years they have allowed children to be taught in bigger and bigger classes, they have allowed teachers to struggle with a more difficult work load, and they have presided over a system that seriously threatens the education of our young people.
If elected, Labour will implement a comprehensive plan to ensure class sizes are cut in Swindon.”
The next Labour government will: