Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations impose a limit on class sizes for Primary 1, 2 and 3 classes at schools managed by education authorities in Scotland.
The limit imposed is a maximum of 30 pupils in a class at any time while an ordinary teaching session is conducted by a single qualified teacher (or, where the session is conducted by more than one qualified teacher, a maximum of 30 pupils for every teacher). It will take effect as from 1st August 1999 for Primary 1 classes; from 1st August 2000 for Primary 2 classes and from 1st August 2001 for Primary 3 classes (regulation 3).
However, where certain types of children (“excepted pupils”) cannot be provided with education at the school in another class in which the limit is not exceeded without measures being taken which would prejudice efficient education or the efficient use of resources, those children are not to be counted for the purposes of ascertaining whether or not the limit of 30 is exceeded (regulation 4 and the Schedule). Excepted pupils are–
children whose record of special educational needs specify that they should be educated at the school concerned, and who are placed in the school outside a normal placing round;
children initially refused a place at a school, but subsequently on appeal offered a place outside a normal placing round or because the education authority recognise that an error was made in implementing their placing arrangements for the school;
children who cannot gain a place at any other suitable school within a reasonable distance of their home because they move into the area outside a normal placing round;
children who are pupils at special schools, but who receive part of their education at a mainstream school; and
children with special educational needs who are normally educated in a special unit in a mainstream school, but who receive part of their lessons in a non-special class.
Children in categories (a) to (c) will be treated as excepted pupils only during the school year in which they are first placed in the school. Children in category (d) or (e) will be treated as excepted pupils only when they are in a Primary 1, 2 or 3 class at the mainstream school or outside the special unit (as the case may be).
For the purposes of these exceptions, a child is placed in a school (whether by placing request or otherwise) outside the normal placing arrangements if the decision to place him at the school is taken after 30th April in the year in which he is to start attending the school.