Parents of two primary schools earmarked for closure have started campaigns against the plans.
Brighton and Hove City Council announced this week it wants to close St Bartholomews’s Primary School in Brighton and St Peter’s Community School in Portslade this summer.
Plummeting pupil numbers mean the council needs to reduce the number of available spaces across the city by more than 450 by 2026 to ensure schools are financially viable.
But hundreds of people have already signed two petitions set up by parents at each school who want to keep their children’s schools open.
And Green opposition councillors have called on the plans to be paused, saying the short timescale means alternatives won’t be properly considered.
The petition for St Bartholomew’s, set up by Reija Such, says: “Closing the school would deprive many of these children’s opportunities and it would have detrimental impact for many of our families who rely the support from school.
“Children have had their education and their lives disrupted enough due to the pandemic. We do not need to add even more unnecessary and cruel uncertainty.
“All the children need stability and security and to be able to access an education in the setting they are familiar with and feel settled in.
“Our children and communities have suffered enough.”
One of the signatories, Tony Firmin, said: “I have seen the school go from strength to strength in the last five years and shutting it now is a total insult to the hard working staff and the great children that it serves so well.
“The council needs to think properly before it makes this dreadful move.”
The petition for St Peter’s, started by Kirsty Farrant, said: “Our beloved school faces uncertain times which could disrupt the education of many pupils including SEN children who may not cope well in bigger settings.
“The closure or downsizing of such schools can have devastating effects all pupils but also on SEN students’ academic progress and mental health.
“We must act now to ensure that our children continue to receive the support they need within this nurturing environment.”
“One of the signatories, Peter Martin, said: “This is the only school in the southern most part of Portslade, in an area serving the most affordable housing for families.
“St Peter’s has served the community for over 100 years and it’s loss would be a significant blow.”
Green Councillor Sue Shanks, opposition spokesperson for children, families and skills committee, and ward councillor for West Hill and North Laine where St Bartholomew’s school is based, commented:
“Labour must urgently halt plans to close these two schools in our city and commit to proper engagement with school heads, parents and staff. We know the broken national funding model and low pupil intake is an issue city-wide.
“But to give less than a full school year to consider the plans throws staff, pupils and parents into a state of uncertainty over the future of their jobs and education.
“It is telling that these announcements come after Labour ran on a local election promise to ‘keep schools open,’ and just months after they scrapped the cross-party, schools organisation working group, that saw all three political groups work together to protect the viability of local schools. In the past every stone was overturned by all groups to keep schools open.
“Now Labour see fit to go it alone and are making poor decisions without scrutiny. We urge them to pause the plans, extend the timeframe for consultation, and engage all parties involved to explore alternative options and views.”
The schools have been selected as they have the fewest number of pupils on the roll in the city – less than 140 each – and are both close to other schools with spare capacity.
A consultation on the plans is due to start next week – but it’s feared that even before that’s finished in December, parents will begin to pull their children out and prospective parents apply elsewhere for reception places next year, making the move inevitable.
As students take up the new accommodation built over the last 5 yrs hopefully families will return to some of the houses of multiple occupation that stud3nts pushed out. The council should dwait to see how that pans out in the medium term.
Unfortunately there is no evidence that the ugly student tower blocks free up any family homes whatsoever as they are aimed mainly at overseas students or those UK students with rich parents and the universities keep increasing their students numbers year after year.
Walking around my local area I noticed that there are more Brand Vaughn student let signs on homes than ever and I noticed a family home being converted into a HMO (I know it doesn’t have to be students but its still no longer a family home) as I could see the builders had installed two doors into what would have been the lounge (now presumably two bedrooms).
There is something deeply suspicious about the way the local authority are rushing this through , some of the schools having their admissions cut were informed a mere few days before the list was decided , one i represent had one day ! , our opinions and responses to not be reduced weren’t given any consideration. I predict this may not go smoothly for the local authority . Good luck to the two schools fighting closure.
This is nothing short of denying parents/carers the right to chose schools for their young people .