Infant class size legislation

Why are there rules about infant class sizes?

The law limits infant classes to no more than 30 pupils per qualified teacher.

Infant classes are reception, year 1 and year 2 (children aged 5 to 7 by the end of the academic year).

Yes. In limited circumstances, schools may admit more than 30 pupils. These exceptions are:

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) naming the school admitted outside the normal admissions round.
Looked after or previously looked after children admitted outside the normal admissions round.
Children admitted due to a procedural error in the original application process.
Children admitted following a successful independent admission appeal
Children moving into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school place within a reasonable distance
Children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round
Children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an excepted pupil
Children with special educational needs who are normally taught in a special educational needs unit attached to the school, or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes within the mainstream school.

Yes, but appeals for infant class size cases are limited by law. The appeal panel will consider:

Whether admitting another child would breach the class size limit
Whether the admissions arrangements followed the law and were applied correctly and impartially
Whether the decision to refuse a place was one which a reasonable admission authority would have made

It is important that any appeal you put forward deals with all the above points.

If you are unable to submit a case which meets the above requirements, you should consider whether to go ahead with your appeal.

If your child is refused a place because of infant class size limits, an appeal panel can only offer a place if one of the following applies:

Admitting another child would not break the legal limit on class size.
The admissions arrangements were not lawful or were not applied correctly and fairly, and your child would have been offered a place if they had been.
The decision to refuse a place was one that a reasonable admissions authority would not have made in the circumstances.

It’s not enough to simply show that there was a mistake in applying the school’s admission arrangements.

The appeal panel can only uphold your appeal if:

It is clear your child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been applied correctly; or
The arrangements were not lawful because they went against mandatory requirements in the School Admissions Code or the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

The appeal panel must decide whether the refusal was one that a reasonable admissions authority could have made in the circumstances.

To overturn the decision, the panel must be satisfied that it was “perverse in light of the admission arrangements.” This means the decision was:

Beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision-maker; or
So illogical or unreasonable that no sensible person, having considered the facts, could have made it.