Labour unveils plan to improve Plymouth schools
Labour have today launched plans to improve primary schools in Plymouth by capping class sizes, this follows a new report which shows that the number of infant pupils in large classes in Plymouth has jumped by 600% since the Conservatives took government.
In 2010 the Conservatives 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 651 children taught in large classes in Plymouth, compared to just 93 in January 2010.
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 Labour inherited in 1997.
Luke Pollard, Labour’s candidate for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, said: “There's a clear choice at this election when it comes to our children's education. David Cameron says he will cut the education budget over the next five years which means less and less money for Plymouth's schools. Labour will protect the education budget and cap class sizes so our children aren't taught in crowded classrooms.
"If elected, Labour will implement a comprehensive plan to ensure class sizes are cut in Plymouth.”
The next Labour government will:
- Cap class sizes for 5, 6 and 7 & year-olds so they are not bigger than 30 pupils for more than 12 months.
- Create the required places in high need areas to deliver this cap, including in the over-subscribed schools which parents often put as their first choice by ending the Tory practice of creating new Free Schools in areas that do not need them.
