Blow to smaller classes vow as more parents win places

THE Scottish Government's pledge to reduce all P1 class sizes to 18 has had another nail hammered into its coffin after two more sets of parents in the Capital won the right to get their children into a class already considered to be full.

The parents successfully appealed to send their children to Roseburn Primary, forcing the city council to increase the class size to 27 – which is against its policy of capping all P1 classes at 25.

It also goes against national "guidance" issued two years ago to cap at 25 the first year of primary, leading to city education bosses demanding clarification from the Scottish Government on the murky legal position.

The parents all managed to get their children into the school by taking their cases to an appeals committee, bringing the total number of successful appeals using the legal loophole up to 12 in the city this year.

Ten sets of parents at Sciennes Primary won the right to send their children to the popular school last month, forcing class sizes there up to 30.

It is feared that the recent rulings will mean more schools will be forced to take 30 pupils in P1, despite the SNP's manifesto pledge to keep class sizes as low as possible.

Carl Broughton, chair of Roseburn Primary's parent council, said: "We would all like to see P1 class sizes come down to the targets that were set by the Scottish Government and it's always a bit disappointing that we can't manage that.

"But, on the other hand, parents like to send their children to Roseburn because they think it's a good school and we don't want to turn parents away.

"Twenty-seven is manageable but we would like to aim for a 25 target.

"Maybe people who haven't appealed before will see this happening now and it may well be that in the future the council will see more appeals.

"The council will probably need to adopt a contingency plan to deal with it."

The 12 sets of parents were successful in their appeals because the current legal class size maximum is 30 in primary one.

While the former Scottish Executive issued guidance in 2007 that P1 classes should be no more than 25 – which most councils, including Edinburgh, have worked to achieve – there is no legislation in place to back it up.

The number of parents appealing is thought to be on the rise following an appeal in East Lothian and a ruling by East Renfrewshire Council to increase all P1 classes to 30.

The authority argued that it could not keep sizes down, as parents could successfully appeal if refused a place.

City education leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren said: "We are pleased to get to the end of a difficult process and I look forward to hearing how the Scottish Government plan to clarify the situation on class size limits.

"We want to keep class sizes down but without legislation it will become increasingly difficult."