Anger over Aviemore class size
HIGHLAND Council is being urged to reconsider their plans to put 13 pupils more than the maximum class size allowed into a single classroom at a Strathspey school.
Education bosses plan to accommodate all 38 children in the new primary one class at Aviemore Primary School from August despite the limit for P1 children being just 25 pupils.
They will get around this by introducing "team teaching" so that there are two fully qualified teachers working in the same classroom at the same time.
The local authority has said that this is the best solution to deal with the large intake until the new £12 million primary school at Muirton opens next May.
But parents of the affected pupils and the school’s parent council have already voiced their concerns about the impact on their children’s education and possible safety issues if the classroom needs to be evacuated in a hurry.
They highlighted their concerns in correspondence fired off to education chiefs.
Mrs Kirsteen Rankin has a child, Liam, in P1 and his brother, Stuart, will be in the new class from August.
She said: "I have seen the current classroom with 33 children and it is full. By the time you add another table or two, a classroom assistant and a learning support teacher, it is going to be very crowded."
Leaving nursery and going to school was already a time of big upheaval for the children, she said.
"They are going into new and more formal surroundings in order to learn – and being asked to concentrate with other children close around them and all this noise.
"I really do think that it will impact on their learning; it must do."
Mrs Rankin added a high proportion of the new P1 intake were boys. "By their very nature they are a little more boisterous."
She continued: "As a member of the parent council I was told by the headteacher in February about the huge intake. In March she told us that she had worked on several scenarios which showed that these children could not be accommodated in just nine classrooms and an extra classroom was required. She had informed the education department of this.
"We have just been told that this extra accommodation is not forthcoming despite the situation being known for some time.
"The children have been in nursery for two years so the council must have realised what was going to happen."
Mrs Sharon MacBean, chairwoman of Aviemore Primary School Parent Council, said the current P1 class was already "pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable".
"It is far from satisfactory in this day and age," she said. "I know that parents with children coming into P1 are not happy about the situation and are concerned that their young ones’ education is going to be affected."
Mrs MacBean feels the council has set out its stall and is not willing to look at other alternatives because of cost, given the new school is due to open around nine months later.
Local Highland councillor Dave Fallows (SNP) defended the decision, however.
He said: "Clearly this should be very much a short term issue, and a team teaching approach across a single classroom seems to be the only practicable option.
"I don’t think that people would be too pleased if, for example, the planned upgrades in Kingussie had to be delayed because we had spent money on building an extra temporary classroom with a life of less than a school year.
"However, the new build urgently needs to be delivered on time and on budget, to restore the normal class size as quickly as possible."
Highland Council said the planned handover date for the new school was May of next year.
"This means that this increase in school numbers only needs to be managed for the one academic year, pending the move into new facilities," a spokesman said.
"In this circumstance it would not be good management of available funding to provide or build additional accommodation for one year only.
"In consultation with the head teacher, it was agreed that the 38 pupils could best be accommodated by taking all the children together and providing two teachers who will team teach across this number."
Further up the school, maximum class sizes are 33.
The council said the room being used has been measured, and in terms of national guidance is large enough to accommodate 38 children.
The spokesman said the two teachers will plan learning activities together to meet the learning needs of the children.
He commented: "At the P1 stage much of the learning is active or ‘hands on’ and the teachers will work alongside each other to interact with the children, extending their learning and identifying the next steps.
"Phonics, reading and maths can be taught in various sizes of groups and the teachers will share their ongoing assessments of children’s skills and knowledge.
"A team teaching situation can extend learning by allowing children access to a wider variety of follow up tasks to match different learning styles.
"It also encourages pupil confidence and independence in their learning by allowing for more personalisation and choice."
