Victorian prep class sizes...

[Olive]

How big is your prep's class??
How many is too many?

[Beach Mama]

Hey darls I think the limit is 21 but I'm a PA teacher so don't quote me on that . If they are bigger they could have team teaching or an assistant.

[Boo Boo]

21 for the three prep classes at the school that DD will be attending next year. Are there different limits dependent on state, we are in Vic.

[Mak]

DD will be in a class of 19. There will be 4 classes. No idea how that will work tho?

[Bathsheba]

I'm in NSW and the size is 20 I think.... but there are going to be SIX prep/kinder classes at my son's school next year. Way too big for my liking. My DD was one of 10. Small is beautiful when it comes to schools. As soon as we can afford it our boys will go to a smaller school. I think my middle child was one of 20 when we lived in Vic when he was in prep.

[Boo Boo]

Small is beautiful when it comes to schools. .

Absolutely!!!

[Floweryfields]

At least you have a cap in other states - Qld all children must be offered a place - so in our country school, we currently have - wait for it .......37 pre kids!! Yep in one room! There is no possibility of shifting children to a combined prep/1 class as they will not provide additional teachers to do so. Ridiculous.

[Olive]

ausgirl most state schools h ere also have to accept all enrollments, there are some exceptions but not many

[Floweryfields]

ausgirl most state schools h ere also have to accept all enrollments, there are some exceptions but not many

So how is it that you avoid having classes higher than 25? In Qld the staffing levels for the year are set by term 1 - any changes in enrolments after that there is no teacher increase. Is this the same in Vic?

[Beach Mama]

Boo Boo pretty sure it varies per state, I'm in Vic.

[Beach Mama]

Have to play devils advocate and say small but cashed up is beautiful!!!! As a teacher who has only ever worked at small but financially struggling schools, it really does suck for teachers when ends don't meet, contracts aren't renewed and sometimes students miss out purely because of lack of dollars. The community feeling at small schools is great though. All state schools being equal is not a reality in Victoria. Sorry to hijack Jols love!

[Phteven]

I don't agree that small is necessarily beautiful. There is such a thing as too small. When you can't form groups of students of similar ability to work together then the class is too small. I think that in old style learning where students were expected to sit and stare at the teacher all day small class sizes might have meant more attention from teachers but now they do so much group work and so on that it's better to have a larger class so that they can make compatible groups.

My boys are in classes of about 20 and they have a great group dynamic going.

[Olive]

Thatsok tan, I love your input!! Im going to ring DD's school because i know they have 77 preps or next year and as far as I know only 3 prep rooms!!

[mooks]

Two preps including my son, 18 students in total at the school. Small is great for learning but I don't think it's quite so great for forming peer groups and learning about social interaction.

[Nai]

We have 16 in dd1s prep class. There are 4 classes. I think 20 would be the max that I would be happy with. We are at a state school too.

[Pandora]

There are 26 students in DS' prep class, we're in Vic

[Purple Penguin]

There were 18 in DD1's prep claas at the start of this year, there's 21 now, next year there will be a class of 25 preps, which is on the bigger side but still doable.

[Traveller]

There are around 20 in DS2's prep class, but when they had a larger intake they went from the usual 3 prep classes to 4 prep classes to keep the numbers low. Perhaps they are planning this at your school?