Pupils in parts of Shropshire are being taught in crowded classrooms, official Government figures showed today, with staff teaching classes of 26 children.

The Liberal Democrats, who obtained the data, called for class sizes to be cut from 30 to 15.

According to the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ (DCSF) figures, primary school class sizes in Telford and Wrekin average 26.0 and 25.5 across the rest of the county.

The England average is 25.7.

The data was released by the Lib Dems ahead of the party’s spring conference in Harrogate this weekend.

The party’s proposal to reduce class sizes forms part of a raft of measures to be debated by delegates.

These include raising the funding levels for disadvantaged pupils to those in the private sector to help pay for more one-to-one tuition, slimming down the national curriculum and cutting back national testing and re-investing the savings in improving literacy and numeracy.

David Laws, Liberal Democrat schools spokesman, accused the Government of failing to close the gap between rich and poor students. He said: “We know smaller class sizes will make a real difference, making it easier for teachers to give young children more individual attention during those important first years at school.

“All children should have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, no matter where they are born.”

A DCSF spokesman said: “There are now 40,900 more teachers and 116,300 more teaching assistants than in 1997 – the biggest school workforce ever. We have slashed the pupil-to-teacher ratio in primary schools and cut average class sizes.”