A Government ruling to reduce the size of primary school classes has been deemed "unworkable" in Southend.

Teachers and the council are telling the Government they will need extra money to ensure no child aged five, six or seven is in a class of more than 30 pupils by September 2001.

Southend Council received the directive last week and has only until October 16 to consult schools and submit its response to the Government.

Education committee members heard the council would have to remove the catchment guarantee in relation to certain oversubscribed schools, although it would remain a valid means of allocating places.

However, the Government has ordered that parental preference should not be sacrificed to make way for the smaller classes policy.

Primary headteachers in Southend fear that if their numbers of pupils are not exactly divisible by 30 they may have mixed age groups in classes.

Chris Russell, headteacher of Heycroft Primary, Leigh, said: "A third of our schools will be forced down the road of having classes with different age groups.

"We have worked hard for many years to get away from this. Parents do not like them, staff do not like them. A number of very successful schools in Southend would be affected because of this Government directive."

Frank Gulley, headteacher of Temple Sutton primary in Southend, said: "Southend has a particularly fluid school population, which makes a policy like this unworkable."

Education director Stephen Hay said: "We are trying to point out to the Government that although the policy is admirable, it has many difficult consequences. Implementing it by 2001 is going to be horrendous."

Councillor Brian Kelly said: "We need to say to the Government you have made this choice, give us the money to implement it properly and build the classrooms to take these children.

"Otherwise I cannot see this policy working in this town."

Councillors resolved to tell the Government that although they welcomed the policy, in order to achieve it, adequate resources needed to be made available.

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