Written question asked by Lord Cotter (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 8 September 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 11 October 2004. It was answered by Stephen Twigg (Labour) on Monday, 11 October 2004 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what the average class size was in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) England and (ii) the North Somerset Local Education Authority in each year since 1997.- Including table.

Answer: Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size was in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) England and (ii) the North Somerset Local Education Authority in each year since 1997. [188660] Mr. Stephen Twigg: The requested information is given in the table. Maintained primary and secondary schools1: classes taught by one teacher, position in January each year, 1997 to 2004 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Average size of classes taught by one teacher2 Primary Secondary3 North Somerset LEA England North Somerset LEA England 1997 27.8 27.5 20.4 21.7 1998 28.4 27.7 21.7 21.7 1999 28.5 27.4 21.7 21.9 2000 28.3 27.1 22.2 22.0 2001 27.7 26.7 22.1 22.0 2002 27.5 26.3 22.3 21.9 2003 27.8 26.3 22.2 21.9 2004 27.6 26.2 22.2 21.8 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the census in January. 3 For secondary schools, excludes sixth form colleges. Source: Annual Schools Census.

Secondary information