A primary school has won its appeal against plans to reduce its intake by a class from September next year.
Governors at Goldstone Primary School, in Laburnham Avenue, Hove, appealed to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator against Brighton and Hove City Council’s decision to reduce its reception classes from three to two.
The governors said that the consultation carried out last November and December was “flawed”, with comments made at a meeting giving them the impression that the decision had already been made.
They also said that the online consultation was hard to navigate and that responders could agree with proposals to reduce the published admission number (PAN) at other schools to protect their own.
Even so, 461 people disagreed with the PAN reduction when responding to the consultation at Goldstone while 177 agreed.
The governors said that the proposed reduction would limit parental choice because Goldstone was one of the few community schools in the area and other nearby options were mainly faith schools or a “free school”.
This year Goldstone was fully subscribed, with 83 places taken up from 87 first choice applications and seven places allocated to children whose parent or carer had chosen the school as their second preference.
The governors said: “On the latest numbers, over 20 children whose parents chose Goldstone as their first preference would be denied a place (30 in all including second preferences).
“The idea of this choice being taken away from them is counterintuitive and seems unfair on people who have been expecting to be able to send their children to our school.”
Reducing admissions would also risk turning a “financially healthy school” with 21 classes, into one “in deficit and struggling” with 14 classes, the governors argued, because funding was based on pupil numbers.
The governors said: “The year-on-year pupil reductions would self-evidently lead to a reduction in Goldstone’s budget of around £1 million per annum once the full implications of the reduction have come into effect.
“This would turn a financially healthy school into one that is in deficit and struggling – not something that would seem to accord with the council’s objectives. Drastic reductions in the wider provision would be required.”
The adjudicator Catherine Crooks analysed the number of surplus places in the area, known by the council as the Central Hove planning area, and the neighbouring area, known as West Blatchington and North Hangleton.
In 2025, the area was forecast to have 132 surplus places, or 20 per cent of all places, while West Blatchington and North Hangleton, was forecast to have 36 empty places or 40 per cent.
Ms Crooks said: “The reduction in PAN will clearly have some adverse effect on the provision at the school and will certainly significantly frustrate parental preference and so would need powerful justification.
“The justification put forward by the local authority is that the reduction in PAN at the school would lead to a significant increase in the number of pupils attending other, undersubscribed, maintained primary schools.
“I have seen little evidence that this objective would be met to an extent that would justify the resulting frustration of parental preference.”
The deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor was disappointed by the schools adjudicator’s decision, saying that the move would make dealing with the surplus spaces much harder.
Councillor Taylor said: “The city is faced with the significant issue of falling pupil numbers at primary age.
“This has a large impact on schools’ budgets and the support they can provide because they are funded on a per-pupil basis.
“It was clear that we had to take action on this issue when we took office last year.”
Councillor Taylor said that currently more than half of the “maintained schools” in Brighton and Hove have a financial deficit, with the risk that the council may have to bail them out.
Councillors agreed to cut the intake by 30 at five other schools – Brunswick, St Luke’s and Saltdean primary schools and Patcham and Stanford infant schools.
Without any schools changing their admissions, forecasts suggest a surplus of 640 places in reception classes next September, or 24.5 per cent of available places. This would go up to 657 in 2026, more than 25 per cent.
The drop was reflected in the 2021 census, with 21 per cent fewer children aged four and under compared with 2011.
In March, Brighton and Hove City Council voted to close the two smallest primary schools – St Bartholomew’s and St Peter’s – to reduce the number of spare places.
St Luke’s Primary and Patcham Infant School have both successfully appealed against the proposed reduction in their intake. The related schools adjudicator reports have yet to be published.
