Education and Development Minister Paula Cox has reported an increase in enrolments at Government primary schools - causing classes to grow in size slightly.

The Minister told the House of Assembly yesterday that the number of parents who applied to get their children into primary schools during the three-day registration period had gone up, but said a number of late applications had increased the number even further.

She said: "The mandate of the Department of Education and Development is to provide a quality education for those who seek it.

"Therefore, we have attempted to arrive at a solution which seeks to honour both the on-going commitment of this Government to maintain a reduced class size at the lower primary levels, and to accord placement to those who wish to be educated in the public sector."

So, Ms Cox said the Ministry would increase class size from 15 students to 18 on an as-needed basis.

She added: "In this way, parents may be assured that the number of students in their child's school setting will still be fewer than before Government's reduced class size policy came into effect. To date, the parents we have contacted have been accepting and grateful at our approach."

The Minister said she recognised that many families had strong family or other connections with certain schools, and some people who applied may not be pleased with the school to which their child has been placed. But she said to avoid disappointment in future, all parents should ensure they enrol their children early into Government schools.

And she encouraged all parents to take an active role in the education of their children, and school life.

She added: "Parents must make every effort to attend meetings with teachers so that they are kept informed of their child's progress.

"Parents must make efforts to visit schools, not just for meetings, but at any time, so they can see what a day in the life of their child is like.

"Parents must listen to their children, and ask questions to find out what is going on in their lives." But the Minister also announced changes to the job descriptions of two deputy principals at two of the Island's largest primary schools, so they no longer taught lessons, but instead helped with the administration of the schools.

She said the deputies at West Pembroke Primary and Elliott Primary will help with the monitoring of both teacher and student performance, as well as acting as facilitators of the learning support programmes.

Ms Cox said the programme was just a pilot scheme, but she said as the larger primary schools carried student enrolments and members of staff which were similar to, if not larger than, some middle schools, it would prove enormously helpful.

She said: "The responsibilities of managing any size school are onerous when one considers that a principal is responsible for ensuring that quality of education offered to all students is of the expected standard.

"Therefore, the Ministry is pleased to be able to offer this form of assistance to the schools.

"We anticipate that as the two-year pilot progresses, we will have the opportunity to review it to determine its efficiency."