Guest Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Hey This is my first post and not sure where I need to put it. So sorry if it is in the wrong place Just wanted some advice really...I work in a reception class in a large primary (2 or 3 classes in a year depending on numbers)!! Currently we have 2 reception classes which are both soon to be 30 pupils after Easter, however on Friday I was informed I was going to have 31 which if I am right it is not allowed!? The head has stated that she is going to put my new intake on a new register so it will look as though my class is 22, she has also said that we will get a part time teacher to help us 3 mornings a week but I think this will rarely happen as she will also cover sickness etc!!? Help my class is quite a handful as it is and the class next door isnt much better!! Thanks for your time! xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 I'm afraid it probably falls under the infant class size exceptions children moving into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within a reasonable distance and your head doesn't have to provide additional staff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 This looks dreadful!! Sorry, I'm Preschool, not Reception so can't advise much, but I think you should try to speak to your LA Advisor about this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode/downloads/Ma...ianceSept08.pdf look under permitted exceptions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Thanks for the quick replies! I forgot to say that we do usually have 3 classes but our intake has been strangely small this year so the head has not taken on a new reception teacher as she normally would!! She had stated we would get more ta's to help however this promise has been forgotten!! I wanted to check whether it was ok as I only passed my NQT at Christmas so all this is still rather new to me! The children are very needy in our school and behaviour is a challenge!! Claire x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Firstly welcome to the forum. Unfortunately it is one of those things that sometimes happens, not very often I hasten to add. But I remember a few years it happened in one of our classes in year 2, that particular year group was full, and they went to appeal to get a place. I have also heard it happen when there have been spaces in the school. For example we have a maximum number of 180, and normally there are between 25 and 30 in each class. Therefore if we have spaces in other year groups, we can be made to accept children into a year group that is full. I hope that makes sense. I know that doesn't help you though. As far as your class goes, as you are obviously fairly new anyway, how about asking your head for advice. Maybe she could spend some time in the classroom (I know it doesn't happen often!) and see what it's like at grassroots level. She may then see how important getting extra support or you is. Other than that all I can say is, good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Last year I ended up having 32 children in reception when a staff member left and we had to combine 2 small classes. I was very lucky as the children were all lovely- some very very able children and only a handful of children who had slight behaviour issues. My head said straight off without me asking that I would have 2 full time TA's and cover was taken from else where in the school to provide this for me. This made things like phonics much more manageable as we could split into 3 groups and have approximately 10 children each. He did also say that he would come and hear each child read one a week- which he did for the first couple of weeks until other things got in the way! Like everyone who has posted has said, unfortunately there might not be too much you can do about it. I would definately speak to your head about extra support from TA's. I would much rather have more TA support than an extra teacher a couple of mornngs a week but may be that's just me! Can you get any parent helpers in at all? Last year I had 2 fantastic helpers who came in one afternoon every week. They then did the creative activities which freed up me and my 2 TA's to do other adult directed input's/observations/guided reading etc. None of that probably helps but I do know what you are going through! I must say I loved having a large class and the challenges it gave (I had previous had 16 which I found really boring!) although I didn't enjoy writing the end of year reports! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I know how you feel as we are in a similar situation - i currently have an intake of 42. We spent the beginning of the year going between 30 and 32 - which we were able to do by putting children on the register of anothert class as you said and have started growing in the last month or so! We have now got a supply teacher on a longer term contract so ratio wise we are ok however the room is not big enough to split into two classes so we team teach or she takes groups out and we split them for whole class input at the start of the day. Having said that i will be the one writing repprts for them all at the end of the year and I was the one who had to hold parents evening for the parents. Its not an easy situation and I am constantly worried that the children might suffer how we can change things for the better etc etc. Added to this they are not an easy cohort and dont accept change easily which makes things tricky! Still I have good TA support too - they are fab and we make great use of the space indoors and outdoors - staffing it is much easier than normal years I have to say! I think it has been quite a year for this - espcially in my local authority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I have 34 children in my present class (11 boys and 23 girls). I am very lucky and have 2 full time TAs who are fantastic. But I do find it difficult when it comes to managing observations and parents evening. As for reports my headteacher is very understanding and is giving me an extra day to the rest of the staff to get them done. On a postive note i have 2 open plan classrooms and a large outdoor area to use. It all about managing your time and your staff to provide the children with great learning opportunities. Plus finding themes that the children really engage with. We have just come to the end of Dinosaurs and the children have loved it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I have 34 children in my present class (11 boys and 23 girls). I am very lucky and have 2 full time TAs who are fantastic Out of interest is this a Nursery or reception class? Ems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 We have 32 children in both our reception classes at the moment. Apparently you can have more than 30 as long as it's after the first day of the academic year. We are finding it quite hard sometimes, not being able to run things the way we would like because we don't have enough staff to spread over the indoor and outdoor areas. This year we seem to have a large group of more immature children who have a lot of emotional and behavioural needs. Just waiting to hear how many we are expecting for next year. I wouldn't mind the amount of children if we could have a bit more support to make things work better but no money in our budget. xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 HI and welcome to thebear and to Claire. No words of wisdom, Im afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 (edited) I understand your worries as I have a current class of 31. My numbers went up when a new traveller child joined my class in January, he came under this clause. He had had no preschooling at all. He needed a lot of support as you will appreciate but this meant I was left with 30 children. This is better than two years ago when I had 35!!!!!!!Do not ask it felt like eternity writing reports and I looked like the pied piper in assemblies Edited April 24, 2009 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Ems Its a reception class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catma Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Apparently you can have more than 30 as long as it's after the first day of the academic year. Do you know where that is written as the infant class size legislation is very clear. I would be contacting my union over any enforced and unagreed numbers over 30. It's not about whether the teacher can cope or not, it's not about good will, its about the legal size of an infant class which includes reception classes. I do not understand why Head teachers think this is OK. It isn't, unless as Marion shows it is agreed by your LA in certain circumstances. If your intake is 3 forms you would have 90 spaces and if your numbers go up during the year you have to find another way of teaching that group, not shove them in with an already full class! Cx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 I understand where you are coming from catma, but in my case we would have lost 4 TA's (an invaluable resource) across the school to enable us to fund 1 teacher. I started with 30 but children came into the area and because we are suffering from falling roles we accepted them. Having those extra children has helped us to fend of federation with the juniors and kept our school open in light of a major area review thats happening in our LA. We only have one intake so decisions for teaching staff are made in April when the budget is set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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