A Portslade junior school is a step closer to being converted into an all-through primary school.
A formal notice has been published setting out the plan to turn Benfield Junior School into a two-form entry primary from next September.
Brighton and Hove City Council said that it had published the “statutory notice” required by law to allow the school to teach pupils from 4 to 11 years old.
As a junior school, children join at 7 and leave at 11.
The latest decision followed consultation with parents, staff, governors and others and a report to Councillor Vanessa Brown, the council’s cabinet member for children and young people.
The Conservative cabinet member approved the change to Benfield’s status at a meeting last week.
The council had been considering turning the school from a junior to a primary school from September 2012.
In a statement, the council said the plans “have been brought forward by a year in response to demand for extra reception age school places in the west of the city”.
The school, in Old Shoreham Road, Portslade, created two reception classes at short notice for the start of term last month.
The extra classes were created to tackle a shortage of primary school places across Brighton and Hove and made use of spare space at Benfield.
The council said that the school’s governors supported the change and said that it would mean
- greater continuity in teaching, pupil care and development under a single head teacher and teaching staff
- more flexibility in organising classes, deploying teachers and support staff and using resources, including buildings, more effectively
- closer contact with parents over a longer period of time
- practical advantages to parents, such as having the same staff development days, uniform and code of conduct
- less disruption for pupils, who no longer have to transfer to a different school after three years, and better social interaction between younger and older pupils
Councillor Brown said: “Hove and Portslade need more reception age school places and Benfield has the capacity and desire to provide them.
“The new reception classes at Benfield are thriving and this gives me great confidence that the school will go from strength to strength as an all-through primary.”
Copies of the statutory notice are posted around the school and are in the Portslade children’s centre and the Portslade, Hove and Jubilee libraries.
Phone 01273 294224 to comment on the proposal or to find out more.
The closing date for comments is Friday 26 November.
A final decision on the proposal will be made before Christmas – probably on Friday 10 December.
