Three schools have reduced the size of their intake after a drop in the number of families applying for places in September.
Brunswick Primary School, in Hove, and Hertford Infant School and Hertford Junior School, in Brighton, have all scrapped a class for September.
Brunswick, in Somerhill Road, Hove, has also reduced its admissions from 120 to 90 for September next year.
The school, which is the largest state primary in Brighton and Hove, successfully appealed against having its admissions cut for last September.
It had 120 places – or four forms of entry – but it has accepted just 87 pupils to start in Reception in September.
So Brighton and Hove City Council, with the support of governors, applied to reduce the published admission number (PAN) to 90.
Had it not done so, and if just four more parents applied for a place at the school for their children, it would have had to fund an extra class.
The council said in its application to reduce numbers: “The school is at risk of being required to open and maintain a fourth class and employ an additional teacher should a further four additional applications be received.
“This is likely to put a significant strain upon the school’s budget in the coming year and for future years.”
The latest decision was announced yesterday (Monday 12 June) by the schools adjudicator Deborah Pritchard after it emerged that Brunswick had too few children to fill all its places.
She said that reducing numbers would not affect parental preference, adding: “The evidence indicates parental choice will not be frustrated if I agree that the PAN for 2023 is reduced to 90 as all applications have been considered and 87 offers have been made.
“If the PAN for 2023 were reduced to 90, then the governing board can plan ahead and organise on that basis.
“I, therefore, have decided that the variation to the 2023 arrangements is justified by the change in circumstances and I approve the proposed variation.
“The evidence of reducing demand for school places and the forecast of an increased reduction in demand for 2024 leads me to believe that there is sufficient evidence for me to also agree the proposed variation to the 2024 arrangements.”
The intake at Hertford Infant School, in Hertford Road, Hollingdean, will reduce from 60 to 30 from September. And Hertford Junior School, in Lynchet Close, will reduce its intake from 60 to 32.
The council has published projected figures forecasting 2,107 applications for school admissions in September 2024, leaving 593 places unfilled across Brighton and Hove.
Unless schools reduce their published admission numbers, the council has said that the number of surplus places could rise to 692 by September 2026.
For the past five years, the council has tried to cut the published admission numbers at various schools as the number of families applying for places in reception has fallen.
This has led to parent protests and schools fighting proposals to reduce their intakes, with the council backtracking on some of those proposals.
Labour councillor Jacob Taylor, who co-chairs the council’s Children, Families and Schools Committee, said that schools were under pressure.
He told the committee, when it met at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Monday 12 June): “It is no secret that primary-age pupil numbers in the city have fallen in recent years, partly as a result of how unaffordable the city is for working families.
“Falling pupil numbers result in significant challenges for school budgets. Our administration will approach this situation carefully and seek to provide solutions that are best for pupils and parents, using creative ideas and pragmatism where possible.”
It’s a difficult challenge to address the unaffordability of Brighton, we are at risk of becoming a seasonal city, and that doesn’t work. I feel there is likely not a single answer, but rather a combination of several aspects. This news is but a symptom of that challenge.