Warning over class size cap delay

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Edinburgh City Council has said it is facing class sizes as high as 30 in primary one from the summer - way above the government's target.

The council said the application process for placements was in full swing but the Scottish government had failed to bring in planned legislation.

The government said regulations to cap P1 classes at 25 should be in place by the autumn.

It said the delays would not affect the new reduced targets on class sizes.

The SNP's pledge ahead of the 2007 Holyrood election was that every child starting school would be in classes capped at 18 pupils for the first three years.

Popular schools

It was a move which pleased many parents but not those trying for places in the most popular schools.

Legal challenges have confirmed councils cannot generally refuse youngsters until there are at least 30 in a class.

Last year ministers reduced their class size target to just 20% of P1 pupils being classes of 18.

They also promised to bring in a law enforcing a limit of 25 pupils.

But that has been delayed by several months because of negotiations with individual councils.

Edinburgh Council said about 50 of its schools would have more than 25 pupils in P1 classes in August.

We still intend to consult on regulations and have them in place by the autumn A Scottish government spokesman

The city council's education leader Marilyne MacLaren said: "We are committed to reducing class sizes and we have taken big steps towards making this happen across the city.

"We fully expect that more than 20% of our P1 pupils will be in classes of 18 or less by the new school year in line with government targets.

"However, the reality is that if we don't have a 'back-stop' to cap classes at a maximum of 25, it is highly likely that 50 other schools will see numbers go beyond 25."

A Scottish government spokesman said: "While it is not possible to now legislate to meet the deadline for placing requests made before 15 March, we still intend to consult on regulations and have them in place by the autumn.

"It is unlikely that placing requests will impact upon local authorities achieving 20% of P1-P3 pupils in classes of 18 or fewer as councils will be targeting schools in areas of deprivation where placing requests are less common and class size reduction is likely to have the greatest impact."