Wisdom on pupil numbers takes a beating

London: The conventional wisdom has long been straightforward: smaller classes equal better lessons.

But a headmaster has rewritten the school rules with mammoth class sizes of up to 70 — and he says the result has been a dramatic improvement in standards.

Bure Valley Junior School in Norfolk teaches youngsters aged seven to nine in groups of 60 to 70.

The classes, which it claims are the biggest in the country, are divided into smaller groups and taught by two teachers and two assistants in one big classroom.

Headmaster John Starling insists that since beginning the experiment two years ago, his pupils have doubled the amount they learn in a year. It has been so successful, he says, that he plans to roll it out to the rest of the school. Starling believes larger classes make lessons more fun and collaborative for pupils and teachers, improving the quality of teaching.

"We've monitored the children very carefully in core subjects," he said. "At the end of the first year we found they had made double the progress they had in the previous year. Staff can work closely with specific groups of children within classes and teachers benefited because they had colleagues in the same room. "Teachers are enjoying it, they're not on their own and it's particularly good for newly qualified teachers because they have an experienced colleague on hand."

Ofsted has rated the school ‘good' overall and the teaching in the super-sized classes "outstanding". With the population set to balloon in the next decade ministers, head teachers and educationalists will watch the experiment with interest.

Are classes with a high number of students more beneficial? Why do you think so? What is the perfect classroom environment? Let us know below.