Maths classes of 60 pupils amid teacher shortage

Caldicot School said it is teaching pupils in classes of 60 because of a teacher shortage

A school has increased the size of some of its maths classes to 60 pupils due to a "national shortage of specialist teachers".

Caldicot School in Monmouthshire said it was teaching pupils in the first three years of secondary - Years 7 to 9 - in the bigger classes.

Rachel Garrick, a former Labour member of the council's cabinet, claimed school governors were "begging" for help.

Her comments came after Conservative members asked the council to express "concern" over UK government plans to charge 20% VAT on private school fees.

Conservative members called for the council to publish plans to "mitigate the impact of this policy on Monmouthshire children including providing local school places and supporting children whose education has been disrupted".

The motion was rejected by the council's cabinet at a meeting on Monday.

The cabinet member for education, Martyn Groucutt, said the council had received nine applications for pupils to move from private to its maintained schools, which he said was 0.01% of the child population.

He said Monmouthshire has 13,000 school places with a surplus of about 2,000 and that children transferring from private education would "benefit from a fantastic national curriculum".

"We would benefit tremendously from children joining the maintained schools from the private sector and a council that gives them just as good, in my opinion, or often better [education] than they get currently."

Conservative group leader, Richard John, said 12% of Monmouthshire children were educated in the private sector - which he said was double the national average.

Garrick, who was responsible for the council's budget and how it allocated funding until last October, said she was "disappointed" by the outlook of the council.

She said: "The reality is I’m receiving emails from chairs of governors begging this council to spend money it has allocated to them to improve their schools and to expand, and I'm sending my children to attend a school now teaching mathematics in classes of 60."