Class Sizes

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average class size of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Lewes constituency, (ii) Sussex and (iii) England and Wales was in each year since 1997. (301282)

The information available is shown in the table.

*Maintained primary and state funded secondary*¹ *schools—Classes as taught*^{2, 3}*—Years: position in January in each year coverage—England*
		1998	2001	2005	2009
Maintained primary schools:
Lewes	Average class size	27.9	27.7	26.0	26.9
	Total number of classes	215	214	215	200
	Total number of pupils	6,000	5,920	5,590	5,380

East Sussex	Average class size	28.3	28.2	27.6	27.2
	Total number of classes	1,260	1,250	1,236	1,184
	Total number of pupils	35,660	35,240	34,160	32,200

England	Average class size	27.7	26.7	26.2	26.2
	Total number of classes	146,425	150,583	146,860	142,920
	Total number of pupils	4,054,800	4,014,110	3,851,810	3,746,270

All state funded secondary schools:
Lewes	Average class size	21.6	22.9	23.2	23.5
	Total number of classes	202	226	205	183
	Total number of pupils	4,360	5,170	4,760	4,300

East Sussex	Average class size	21.4	22.3	21.8	21.6
	Total number of classes	1,103	1,178	1,243	1,202
	Total number of pupils	23,610	26,250	27,110	25,960

England	Average class size	21.7	22.0	21.6	20.6
	Total number of classes	131,597	138,021	144,940	148,410
	Total number of pupils	2,859,620	3,038,760	3,137,030	3,064,190
¹ Includes CTCs and Academies. ² One teacher classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the census in January. 3. Includes middle schools as deemed. Source: School Census

Volume 501: debated on Wednesday 25 November 2009