A number of English councils are reportedly looking into the possibility of building more super-size secondary schools in order to help educate the rising number of pupils.

These super schools would have between 12 and 16 form groups for every school year, totalling more than 2,000 pupils, the BBC says. It claims that as many as 17 councils across England and Wales are considering the viability of creating such schools in the next few years.

Pupil numbers in both rural and urban areas are set to peak in the next few years across the country, and more councils want to use bigger schools as a way to make sure that everyone gets a place. The government has also been quick to quell fears that larger schools with more pupils would mean that the quality of learning would fall. 

Schools minister Nick Gibb said: "If you look at Shanghai, their schools are very large and they produce some very high standards of education." In fact, the largest state school in Shanghai, and the best performing in the city, has more than 3,000 pupils. 

However, Mr Gibb admitted that there would need to be a lot of work done to ensure larger super schools would be places that parents would want to send their children, because there will be a fear that many will be put off by the number of pupils. 

The advantages of larger schools, as well as being able to offer pupils a place, is they can offer a wider range of subjects as they hire more teachers. This will need to be one of the main selling points councils use to convince people that these are the way forward in the education sector.