2) Can you list which schools have had their class sizes reduced as part of the reduction of class sizes in the early years program in (a) Kindergarten (b) Year 1 (c) Year 2 and (d) Year 3;

3) What is the average size of classes across the board for (a) Kindergarten (b) Year 1 (c) Year 2 and (d) Year 3;

4) Is this a reduction in class sizes in (a) Kindergarten (b) Year 1 (c) Year 2 and (d) Year 3, each year since the beginning of the 2000 school year;

5) How many additional teachers have been hired as part of the reduction of class sizes in the early years of learning in (a) Kindergarten (b) Year 1 (c) Year 2 and (d) Year 3;

6) How many more teachers are expected to be hired in the (a) 2003 school year (b) 2004 school year and (c) 2005 school year;

7) Is the program still running to schedule for completion at the end of the 2004 school year.

1) Commencing in the 2002 school year, additional staffing resources were allocated to all primary schools to allow K - Yr 2 classes in all schools to be reduced to 25 students. Further additional staffing resources were allocated to all primary schools from the commencement of the 2003 school year to reduce all K - Yr 3 classes to 23 students.

2) All primary schools were resourced to enable class sizes for Years K-3 to be reduced to 23 in 2003. Some schools may have had some classes of this size in 2002, and therefore may have used the additional resources to reduce class sizes even further or to support other programs in the school.

3) As many primary schools have composite or multi-aged class groupings, average class size figures are not available for individual year levels. For K - Yr 3, the average class size is 21.7 students.

4) The initiative to reduce class sizes in the early years of schooling was planned for implementation over the 2002, 2003 and 2004 school years. In 2002, the class sizes for Yr 1 and Yr 2 were reduced to 25 students. Kindergarten classes were already 25 students. For 2003, the class sizes for K - Yr 3 were reduced to 23 students. Finally for 2004, these class sizes will reduce to 21 students.

5) For the 2002 school year an additional 46 (full time equivalent) teaching positions were created across all primary schools to implement the reduction in class sizes to 25 students. Again as many primary schools have composite or multi-aged class groupings, the figures are not available for individual year levels.

6) A further 86 (full time equivalent) teaching positions were created from the beginning of the 2003 school year. For the 2004 school year, a further 63 (full time equivalent)