Hove parents to hear update on new school

Parents in Hove are being given a chance to learn more about plans to tackle the shortage of primary school places in the town.

They will be able to hear about work on the new Connaught Primary School at a public meeting next week being chaired by Mike Weatherley, the Conservative MP for Hove.

The school is due to open to 90 reception year pupils – or three classes – in September.

At a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting yesterday a senior official, Gil Sweetenham, said: “It looks like a bomb site at the moment but it will be ready by September.”

Mr Sweetenham also said: “If you go from Tesco [in Church Road] to the seafront, east and west there are no schools [in Hove].”

He said that the nearest schools were West Hove and St Andrew’s, adding: “Last year you had to live within 600 metres to get into West Hove, and St Andrew’s is a faith school.”

He explained to the council’s Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee that since 2000 the number of children in Brighton and Hove had been growing by about 60 a year.

Demand

The council had kept up with the overall demand for primary school places, Mr Sweetenham said.

In the current year there were seven spare places across Brighton and Hove.

But, he said, some parents had to travel some way to take their children to their nearest school as a result of population growth and changes to where people chose to live.

He added: “If you were starting from scratch, you wouldn’t build the schools where they are now.”

Mr Sweetenham is due to be at the meeting next week being chaired by Mr Weatherley.

Two Conservative councillors are also scheduled to be at the meeting, Andrew Wealls and Vanessa Brown.

Both are members of the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee. And Councillor Brown was the cabinet member for children and young people until the Greens won the local elections in May.

Mr Weatherley said: “The last meeting on the Connaught School was really successful and, in many ways, led to the decision to reopen a school on that site being made.

“I hope as many people as possible turn up this time to get an update and ask any questions that they have.”

The meeting will be held at Hove Library in Church Road on Thursday 14 July at 11am.