HALF a dozen new schools will be needed in Bury to meet Labour's election pledge to cut class sizes.

Nearly half the borough's primary school pupils are taught in classes of more than 30, the figure Tony Blair pledged as a maximum for infant classes.

But the pledge will have major implications locally, in a borough near the top of the league table for overcrowded classrooms.

Mr Graham Talbot, Bury's acting chief education officer, said this week: "Reducing class sizes to 30 would produce capital implications equivalent to creating a new one-form entry school for each six current schools taking classes of 35."

With half the borough's 70 schools reporting overcrowding, this could mean as many as six new schools.

Labour are paying for the class size cuts by abolishing the assisted places scheme, which helps parents of limited means to pay for their children at private schools including Bury Grammar.

Yesterday, June 5, newly-elected Bury South MP Ivan Lewis, whose constituency includes some of the most overcrowded schools in the borough, said the Government would stick to their pledge, but did not promise new school buildings.

"The local education authority will provide the Government with a clear picture of their situation, and then a solution will be reached through partnership," he said. "We have made this promise, and we will stick by it," he went on. "How it is achieved depends on the circumstances of LEAs."

The cut in class sizes will also mean changes in the law, and the school funding system.

At the moment, governors decide class sizes, and parents can appeal if their child is refused a place at an individual school, leading to larger classes.

And, because pupil numbers influence school budgets, teachers fear smaller classes could mean less income.

"Schools will need at least as much funding for 30 as they have for 35," warned Mr Talbot in a report to the borough's education committee on Wednesday night.

But Mr Lewis said: "What we will not do is lay down a blanket law to cover everyone. We will listen to the people on the ground who have to work to achieve this."

Mr Talbot said he expected Bury to get priority when it came to reducing class sizes. A recent league table put them fifth worst in the country for overcrowding.

Said Mr Lewis: "It is my job, and that of David Chaytor (Bury North MP), to make sure Bury does come first.

"Indeed, we will not only be highlighting the problems we face in Bury, we will be telling ministers that Bury should be used as a national model of educational excellence."

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