Green councillors are asking for a “pause” in the process of moving a nursery and closing a primary school to see if they could both be housed on the same site.
A motion has been submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council’s Children, Families and Schools Committee by Councillor Chloe Goldsmith.
It calls for a halt to plans to close St Bartholomew’s Church of England Primary School and the proposed move of Bright Start nursery from the Old Slipper Baths, in Barracks Yard, to the Tarner Centre.
Councillor Goldsmith wants a report brought to the next meeting of the council’s Children, Families and Schools Committee on Thursday 29 February, looking at the feasibility of moving Bright Start to the St Bartholomew’s site in Ann Street.
Her motion asks for the nursery to keep its existing number of places for under-twos and for council officials to work with the school and Bright Start to explore options.
One suggestion includes reducing St Bartholomew’s published admission number (PAN) to help its long-term financial stability.
At the moment, parents are concerned that the Bright Start move would result in shorter opening hours, no provision for under-twos and a 70 per cent cut in places.
At the meeting scheduled for next Monday (22 January), councillors are being asked to back closing St Bartholomew’s.
The school is the second smallest in terms of pupil numbers in Brighton and Hove and has a deficit budget putting it more than £200,000 in the red.
Councillor Goldsmith wants the council to explore using an unallocated £4.3 million in developer contributions for education – known as “section 106” money – to help fund the move.
Fellow Green councillor Raphael Hill asked about options for using the cash in a written question at a meeting of the full council last month.
The response was that the money could be used on education infrastructure and the “long-term delivery of education that meets the needs of all of the city’s children”.
The committee is also being asked to recognise that the closures would affect a high number of pupils from ethnic minorities and children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Councillor Goldsmith said: “Given the serious impact Labour’s plan to close both a school and a nursery will have on children, families, and staff, it’s vital the Labour council show willing to turn over every stone in pursuit of viable alternatives.
“Both Bright Start and St Bart’s campaigners are supportive of proposals to relocate the nursery into vacant space at the site of St Bartholomew’s school.
“This could present a cost-effective alternative to closure that helps families in the city centre while also protecting vital provision for under-twos that Labour’s current plans fail to safeguard.
“The national Labour Party is campaigning on promises of expanded nursery provision – including integrated nursery places in primary schools – but it seems this message has not reached the Labour council in Brighton and Hove.”
The Children, Families and Schools Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm on Monday 22 January. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
The first sign of work we’ve seen from Green Councillor Goldsmith in her Regency Ward in eight months, other than trying to get her fellow Ward Labour Councillor Alison Thomas, who really is hard working, deselected. All because it’s suddenly a bad thing to celebrate women. Though if Councillor Goldsmith can save a school, she will impress.
You must have missed all Cllr Goldsmith’s local litter picks, contributions to Committee debates, etc. PS trans rights are human rights.
Goldsmith works with Chandni Mistry in Youthwise, right? That’s an interesting link.
Chloe is an amazing councillor! She’s been very supportive of St Peter’s and she knows what she’s talking about. This sounds like a solid plan that the council should investigate, rather than just dismiss it like everything else they do 🙄
It’s not a bad idea actually, I’d take that a step further as well; where there is a community resource, create a collaboration and share the resource. Gives access to a lot more funding opportunities.