Three schools face cuts to pupil numbers

Two infant schools and a junior school look likely to have their admission numbers cut from September 2024 after a public consultation.

A series of public meetings took place last month for parents and carers to hear why the cuts had been proposed by Brighton and Hove City Council.

The proposals would mean that a one fewer reception class from next year at Downs Infant School and Hertford Infant School, both in Brighton, and Hove Junior School, in Holland Road, Hove.

The seven-week public consultation drew seven responses to an online form while 27 people attended virtual meetings and 24 went in person.

A report to the council’s Children, Young People and Skills Committee broke down the responses by school.

It said that six people responded to the proposal to cut a “form of entry” at Downs Infant School, in Ditchling Road. Four strongly agreed or tended to agree with the proposal while strongly disagreed.

Comments included concerns about the effect on “sibling links” and a future need to reduce intake at Downs Junior School.

Downs Infant School admits up to 120 reception pupils although just 100 started last September.

In 2021, the school successfully appealed against a cut to its published admission number (PAN) to 90 for September 2022.

Seven people responded to the Hertford Infant School consultation. Three people strongly agreed or tended to agree with the proposals to cut the intake from 60 to 30 children. Two disagreed or strongly disagreed and two neither agreed nor disagreed or were not sure.

Commenters were concerned about potential staff redundancies and the effect on children with additional needs.

A suggestion that Hertford Infant School and Hertford Junior School combine on one site as a one-form entry school received positive feedback.

Three out of six people backed a proposal to cut Hove Junior School’s admission number from 96 to 64.

The council predicted that parents would apply for reception class places for 2,169 children, starting September, leaving 531 places unfilled.

It said that 2,107 applications were expected for September 2024, leaving 593 places unfilled.

Without further reductions, in September 2026, the council projected 692 surplus places even if the current recommended reductions went ahead.

The report said: “Schools are funded by the government, not the council. The funding is largely done on a per-pupil basis and nearly all of it covers staffing costs.

“If schools don’t have enough pupils attending or suffer from fluctuating numbers, they may not be able to operate in a financially efficient way and risk entering a budget deficit.

“If the number of surplus places in the city is not addressed, some schools could face significant financial issues that will impact on their ability to sustain their school improvement journey.

“Where schools do not take appropriate action to adjust their expenditure in line with changes in revenue, they risk incurring a deficit budget which has an implication for the school and the council’s own budget.”

The late report is due to be debated by the council’s Children, Young People and Skills Committee at Hove Town Hall on Monday (9 January). The meeting is scheduled to start at 4pm and to be webcast on the council’s website.