Letter: Class sizes

Sunday 31 October 1999 19:02 EST

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Sir: May I correct two errors in your report on class sizes (28 October)? There is no local education authority which still has "more than three-quarters of infant school children in classes of more than 30." Kingston, with just over half, is the highest, but is far higher than any other LEA.

Planned Conservative real-terms budget cuts for 1998-9 would have meant 15,000 fewer teachers, not 50,000. This would have increased the pupil-teacher ratio from 18.9 to 19.5 across all schools by January 1999 instead of a fall to 18.8, as actually happened.

ESTELLE MORRIS

School Standards Minister, Department for Education and Employment

London SW1

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