More than 2,600 infant school-age children are still being taught in large classes in Bradford.

Figures released today reveal 14.4 per cent of Bradford children at Key Stage One - the sevens and under - are taught in classes of 31 or more.

This makes the district the second worst in the region for the proportion of the youngest school pupils in big classes. Back in January 1998, though, 6,794 infant pupils in the district were in classes of over 30.

Teachers' leaders in the district described the new figures as disappointing and called for more action to cut class sizes.

The average number of pupils per class in the four to seven age group is 26.8 in Bradford, compared with 25.5 in the Yorkshire and Humberside region.

Nationally, 11 per cent of children of that age are taught in classes of 31 or more - half the number in large classes a year ago.

The Government has made it a major strand of its education policy that no Key Stage One youngster should be taught in a class size of more than 30.

And at Key Stage Two - pupils aged seven to 11 - 6,740 Bradford children are taught in classes of more than 30, more than a third of children in that age group and a similar figure to the national statistics.

In total, 10,750 of the district's 40,100 primary age children are in large classes.

Ian Murch, of Bradford's National Union of Teachers, said: "Bradford was one of the pilots and got money early for class size reduction. It was targeted at Key Stage One.

"Being close to the national average is not good enough for Bradford. Bradford is funded because of its social deprivation to have classes smaller than that. Without better teacher-pupil ratios, we won't address social deprivation. For Bradford, the class sizes are too big."

And Alan Davy, of the National Association of Head Teachers and the head teacher at Shipley CE Primary, said: "There's some concern that classes are still over 30 in Key Stage One. As the reorganisation works through and schools are set at intakes of 30, we would hope that would help to bring class sizes down.

"There's a major issue for Key Stage Two. The Government is giving money for Key Stage One but Key Stage Two classes should come down too, right through the whole of the primary school. I think the targets should be to have no children taught in classes over 30, no matter what age they are.

"These figures are disappointing. I would have hoped that figures would be reducing."

For the district's secondary age pupils, one in nine pupils are being taught in classes of over 30, a similar number to the national figure.

An education spokesman for Bradford Council said the local education authority had agreed a plan with the Department for Education in November 1998.

"We have set ourselves the target of having no Key Stage One classes with more than 30 pupils by September 2000 and are on course to achieve this.

"We have applied to the DfE to help us to reduce class sizes. We received £1.7 million for the 1999/2000 financial year, and another £2 million will be coming for 2000/01."

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