The city’s larger schools should agree to reduce their numbers to protect smaller schools, councillors argued this week.
Seven primary schools in some of the most deprived areas of Brighton and Hove face losing one or half a reception class as the city council tackles plummeting pupil numbers.
Brighton and Hove City Council predicts just 1,930 will apply for primary and infant spaces in September 2025 – down 20 per cent from this year.
To keep to the government-recommended surplus of 10 per cent spaces, this means the current reception capacity of 2,820 needs to be reduced by 540 over the next three years.
Earlier this year, Downs and Goldstone Primary Schools and Stanford Infant School all successfully appealed against reducing their published admission numbers (PAN) for 2022.
Results are pending for a late appeal to keep Brunswick Primary School in Hove as a four-form entry school.
Next year Balfour, Benfield, Moulsecoomb and West Blatchington Primary Schools are all reducing by a class for the September 2022 intake.
This year classes were cut at Hangleton and Mile Oak Primary School and West Hove Infant School – Connaught Road.
Councillors on the Children, Young People and Skills Committee backed launching a public consultation for 2023 while lamenting the situation during the meeting on Monday 8 November.
Under the proposals, Bevendean, Coldean, Rudyard Kipling, and Woodingdean Primary Schools would have their numbers reduced from 60 to 45 pupils.
Losing half a class is likely to lead to mixed aged-group teaching.
Carden and Queen’s Park Primary Schools would go from 60 to 30 pupils and Saltdean Primary from 90 to 60 pupils.
In future years the council may have to close a school if there are not enough children in the area.
Head of schools organisation Richard Barker told the committee the council wanted to keep the buildings operating as schools in case numbers increase again in the future.
Conservative councillor Vanessa Brown said the council and headteachers agree the council must do something to deal with falling numbers.
She said: “Sadly, not all schools are considering the family of schools protocol that we have.
“I would have particularly have liked to see the larger schools offer to reduce their PAN to keep the number of one-form entry schools to the minimum.”
Labour councillor Jackie O’Quinn said it was upsetting larger schools were successful when they appealed against PAN reductions due to parental preference.
The retired teacher said: “What we’re trying to do by acting as a family of schools is to preserve those schools that are in a more difficult position in areas of great deprivation.
“We’ve been thwarted in that by those appeals.”
Shared student houses were raised as a reason for fewer families living in Bevendean and Coldean, with hope new accommodation would see more homes freed up.
Green councillor Sarah Nield said the situation was “pretty grim” and made more challenging when successful appeals thwarted the council’s plans to reduce admissions to the city’s largest primary schools.
She said: “These consultations are not going to be ‘don’t you love the great idea to make our school smaller’.
“They’re going to be ‘please tell us anything we need to take into consideration we might not have thought of’ as we need to make these numbers balance in what is a sobering situation.”
Councillor Nield predicted the communities would fight hard to keep the schools as they are.
Conservative councillor and Carden Primary School governor Alistair McNair is concerned if youngsters in Hollingbury do not secure a place there, their next nearest school is Patcham Primary, which is oversubscribed.
He said: “By targeting seven schools which serve less affluent areas of the city, how will this not have a detrimental impact, narrowing the attainment gap and giving children the best start in life.
“Schools feel these decisions to reduce PANs at these seven schools lack strategy and is inequitable and not one taken with the whole city in mind. They do not at present feel like a family of schools.”
Mr Barker said the council has to put forward proposals it has confidence will reduce the surplus places in the city.
Retired maths teacher Labour councillor Leslie Hamilton found when he removed voluntary aided faith schools, free schools, academies, single form entry and those schools which had their PANs reduced in recent years from the list of 54 primary and infant schools in Brighton and Hove, just 11 schools had not yet faced having classes cut.
He said the proposals were the best the council could do as it is “between a rock and a hard place” and still needed to cut pupil numbers even after the latest proposals.
The city council is not responsible for making admissions policies for faith schools, free schools or academies.
Committee chair Green councillor Hannah Clare urged members to go along to public events to hear what people have to say.
The public consultation opens on the council’s website on Monday 15 November and runs until Sunday 2 January.
Two public events are scheduled for each school in person and online.
Eight open events scheduled online from Wednesday, 17 November.
