Geographical accessibility

Primary schools are distributed nationally across both urban and rural areas in Wales. Table 1 of the Schools’ Census Results, January 2019 provides the numbers of schools in each local authority area.

Securing sufficient school places

Local authorities (LAs) have a statutory responsibility, under Section 14 of the Education Act 1996, to ensure that there are sufficient primary school places in their area. This involves assessing demographic changes and planning accordingly. When there is increased demand for places, LAs can, for example, transport pupils to schools with surplus places, expand existing schools, or facilitate the opening of a new school.

Local authorities are also responsible for education for pupils who have been excluded, are ill, or, for any other reason are not able to attend mainstream education. Further information is available in the article on ‘Support Measures for Early Childhood and School Education’.

The process of providing school places, including school closures, mergers, and establishing new schools, is set out under the School Organisation Code, as determined by the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013. In accordance with this legislation, local authorities and other relevant bodies must consider a range of factors when proposing substantial changes to a school, including the closure of a school. The previous School Organisation Code, introduced in 2013, represented a shift towards final decision-making by LAs. It set out the principle that the prime consideration in the proposed closure of a school or other proposed substantial changes should be the interest of learners.

The School Organisation Code – second edition came into force on 1st November 2018, following a consultation in 2017. It introduced a presumption against the closure of rural schools, and a requirement that cases for closure are robust and in the best interests of education provision in the area. The revised Code forms part of a wider Rural Education Action Plan (2018). This includes the provision of a Rural and Small Schools Grant to support schools in working together, and encourages greater use of digital technology to combat professional isolation.

Home to school travel

Local authorities (LAs) also have legal duties for travel and transport provision for learners travelling to and from school. These are set out in the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008 (as amended). Under the Measure, LAs must:

• assess the travel needs of learners in their area
• provide free home-to-school transport for learners of compulsory school age attending primary school who live 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) or further from their nearest suitable school
• assess and meet the needs of looked after children in their area 
• promote access to Welsh-medium education
• promote sustainable modes of travel.

Guidance (2014) on the law on school transport and travel is available on the Welsh Government website.

Admission requirements and choice of school

School starting age

Full-time education is compulsory from the start of the school term following a child’s fifth birthday. This can therefore be in September, January or April. However, most children start full-time school earlier than compulsory school age and the most common pattern is for the full cohort to be admitted to the reception class of a primary school in the September following their fourth birthday. The reception class forms part of the Foundation Phase for ages 3-7 (ISCED 0 and the first two years of ISCED 1).

Admission arrangements and oversubscription criteria

Parents apply to the local authority (LA) in which they live for a place at their preferred school. In accordance with the 2013 School Admissions Code, they have a statutory right to express a preference for at least three schools, but they do not have the right to choose their child’s school. The application can include schools outside the local authority where the child lives, as parents can apply for a place for their child at any publicly-funded school in any area. The Welsh Government provides guidance for parents on school admissions.

Responsibilities

The local authority (LA) is responsible for operating the admissions system in its local area. On receipt of applications, it collates all preferences from parents who then receive an offer from the LA at the highest preference school at which a place is available. All offers of primary school places must be made on ‘national offer day’ which is 16 April or the next working day.

Pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs which names a particular school must be offered a place at that school.

For maintained schools, the admission authority – the body charged with determining the admissions arrangements for a particular school – may be the local authority or the school governing body, depending on the legal category of school.

All LAs, admissions authorities and schools must comply with the School Admissions Code (2013). This is statutory guidance made under Part III of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. It aims to ensure that school places are allocated and offered in an open and fair way.

Parents have a legal right of appeal if a place is not offered at their preferred school. Statutory guidance on how schools should conduct the appeals process is provided in the School Admission Appeals Code (2013).

Oversubscription criteria

For each school, published admission arrangements must set out clearly how children will be admitted. The arrangements must include the criteria that will be applied if there are more applications than places at the school, and the order in which these oversubscription criteria will be applied.

The criteria used to determine which pupils gain a place when schools are oversubscribed must be reasonable, clear, objective and procedurally fair, and must comply with the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010. If the school is not oversubscribed, all applicants to the school must be offered a place.

Pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs which names a particular school must be offered a place at that school.

Highest priority in oversubscription criteria must be given to looked after children or previously looked after children. After that, commonly used oversubscription criteria may include:

• having a sibling still at the school
• the medical need of a child or his/her family
• the distance between home and school
• catchment area. 

Where oversubscribed, a faith school may give preference in its admission arrangements to members of a particular faith or denomination, providing this does not conflict with other legislation. Such schools are also expected to consider how their admission arrangements impact on the local community. They are encouraged to be inclusive of other faiths, beliefs and of all elements of the population of their local area.

Age levels and grouping of pupils

Classes are normally organised so that children of the same year group are taught together. A year group consists of all children whose birthdays fall within the same academic year i.e. between 1 September and 31 August.

The curriculum in compulsory phase education is divided into four stages, with primary schools typically catering for children in the first two – the Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2, as outlined in the table. (The curriculum in compulsory secondary education is provided in Key Stages 3 and 4.)

Note: the Foundation Phase begins at age 3. See the chapter on ‘Early Childhood Education and Care’.

The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 places a limit on class sizes for 5- to 7-year-olds in maintained primary schools of 30 pupils or less per single teacher. These infant class size limits were introduced in 2000 for Year 1 (5- to 6-year-olds) and in 2001 for Year 2 (6- to 7-year-olds). The School Admissions (Infant Class Sizes) (Wales) Regulations 2013 outline the circumstances under which exceptions to the class size limit may be made.

In January 2019, 7.2% of pupils were in classes of over 30 pupils.

The Welsh Government is providing funding aimed at reducing the number of infant classes of 29 or more. This can be used to enable schools to recruit additional teachers and to provide additional classrooms. It  is available for schools which meet at least one of the following criteria:

• high levels of eligibility for free school meals;
• below average outcomes;
• high levels of special educational needs;
• high levels of pupils whose first language is not English or Welsh.

Apart from the infant class size limit, the organisation of classes and teaching groups is a matter for the school. Mixed-aged classes are used in some schools, particularly small schools.

Primary school teaching is most commonly organised on a mixed-ability basis. Many schools also group children by attainment for all or part of the curriculum. The most common models are flexible within-class grouping and ‘setting’ (grouping together pupils with similar levels of attainment for specific lessons on a regular basis).

Pupils typically have the same teacher for all or most subjects, although schools may choose to employ additional teachers for particular subjects, such as foreign languages or music. Primary schools also make extensive use of teaching assistants, working in the classroom in a direct, but informal instructional role with pupils on a small group and one to-one basis. Pupils usually have different teachers for different years, although this is not a statutory requirement and, in some cases, pupils may have the same teacher for more than one year.

Organisation of the school year

The school year is usually divided into three terms (autumn term, spring term and summer term), each of which is divided into two half-terms separated by a half-term holiday. There is normally a long summer break of about six weeks in July and August and shorter breaks of two to three weeks at Christmas and Easter. The dates of school holidays normally take into account and cover most national public holidays, including Easter.

Schools are required to be open for a minimum of 380 half-day sessions (190 days) each year, as set out in The Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) Regulations 2003 (as amended).

Teachers are required to be available for other duties, such as training and development, for five additional days when pupils are not present, i.e. for 195 days in total.

Dates of school terms are determined:

• by the local authority (LA) for community schools and voluntary controlled schools
• by the school governing body for voluntary aided schools and foundation schools.

Under the Education (Wales) Act 2014, LAs and governing bodies must, however, co-operate and co-ordinate with each other to ensure that term dates are the same or as similar as possible. For 2019/20, consistent dates have been agreed by 19 of the 22 LAs.

Organisation of the school day and week

The Welsh Government provides guidance on recommended minimum weekly lesson times.. These are that pupils in Years 1 and 2, ages 5-7, should receive at least 21 hours of lessons each school week, and that those in Years 3-6, ages 7-11, should receive a minimum of 23.5 hours of lessons. Schools are free to decide the length of each lesson. There is a further requirement on schools to allow sufficient instruction time to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum that meets all statutory requirements. Schools may provide more than the minimum time if they wish. These recommendations and requirements are set out in Welsh Office Management of the School Day Circular 43/90, provided in Chapter 22 of the School Governors’ Guide to the Law.

In maintained schools, the school day must usually be divided into two sessions with a break in the middle. This is in accordance with The Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) Regulations 2003. Within this framework, the school governing body determines the length of the school day, including session times and breaks, taking into account the recommendations of the headteacher.

The typical pattern is for maintained primary schools to be open between 9.00 a.m. and around 3.30 p.m., with approximately one hour for lunch, from Monday to Friday. There may be a break of around 15 minutes in the morning and / or afternoon session. All breaks must be supervised by competent staff.

Schools may provide optional / extra-curricular activities outside the school day such as breakfast clubs, after-school supervision and sports clubs.

Article last reviewed April 2021.