The latest National Statistics on the Annual Schools Census produced by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The key points from the latest release (compared to January 2008) are:

• 31 fewer primary schools, 1 new secondary school and 2 fewer  pupil referral units;
• just over 5,000 fewer pupils;
• 220 less teachers (full time equivalent);
• 2,150 additional support staff (the majority recruited in foundation phase settings);
• pupil-teacher ratio is 17.5 (the same as in 2008)
• overall average class size in primary schools increased slightly to 24.4 (note that these figures are not directly comparable with those collected in September to monitor the Assembly’s targets).

In 2009, data on ethnic background and national identity showed that:

• just over 93 per cent of pupils aged 5+ consider themselves to be of white ethnic background;
• 55 per cent consider their national identity to be Welsh, and a further 31 per cent British.

Further details are available on the Statistics for Wales website.