Simon Danczuk expresses concern at increase in large class sizes in schools

Simon Danczuk, Rochdale MP

Simon Danczuk MP has slammed the Government for presiding over a big increase in the number of young children taught in large classes.

Recent figures published by the Department for Education show that in Rochdale there are now 378 infants being taught in large classes of over 30 children, an increase of more than 200 per cent since the Tories came to power in 2010.

This has become a national scandal with over 93,000 children affected across the country. Labour reacted by holding a recent debate in the House of Commons, where Rochdale’s MP Simon Danczuk voted to get the Government to take immediate action to reverse this trend.

He said: “In their 2010 general election manifesto, the Conservative Party promised to create ‘small schools with smaller class sizes’ while David Cameron previously said ‘the more we can get class sizes down the better’.

“Instead, after years of falling class sizes under Labour, parents and children in Rochdale are now facing bigger classes and the consequences of the Tories’ failed policies and broken promises.

“The teachers in local schools do a fantastic job but the pressure on class sizes is making it so much harder for them to do their jobs. It’s shocking that so many of our young children are being denied the benefits of being taught in appropriate class sizes, especially at such an important stage in their educational development.

“We need to do things differently if we’re going to give our kids the best possible start in life. Otherwise we risk more of our young children being left behind in classes too big for them to be taught properly.”