A headteacher with one of the most overcrowded classrooms in England says that the government is playing politics with class sizes.

Bob Bushell, headteacher of Northfold county primary school in Thornton Cleveleys, says the government's drive to cut class sizes in infant schools has been helpful - but there have been insufficient efforts to tackle larger classes for older pupils.

Mr Bushell's school has 40 pupils in a class for eight to nine-year olds - and before Christmas the class had 42 pupils. According to figures from the Department for Education, only 0.4% of primary classes have 40 pupils or over.

But Mr Bushell believes there will be no initiative to cut such class sizes for the eight to eleven year olds until nearer the general election, when he forecasts the government could make smaller classes for older primary pupils its next target.

For the last general election manifesto, the Labour party promised to set a maximum upper limit of 30 pupils per class for five to seven year olds.

Class size promise expected

With the government set to achieve this target, Mr Bushell believes the attention will switch to the upper primary years - but not until it is politically convenient.

"I'm certain that we'll be promised smaller class sizes, but not until the run-up to the election," said Bushell.

Teaching such a large class poses many organisational problems, he says, despite the extra per capita funding that such a large class attracts.

Another classroom is about to be built to overcome the overcrowding, he says, but the building of new houses near to the school could soon fill this new classroom, he says.

And if there is a new upper limit for all primary school classes, Mr Bushell says that it will be important that the loss of funding should not mean the loss of support staff.

With a class of 30 pupils schools should still be able to afford an assistant for each class, he says.