Parents living in east Brighton who want a “real choice” for their children’s secondary schools are encouraging people in their area to make their voices heard in a consultation ending this week.
Equity in Education was formed last month when Brighton and Hove City Council started its consultation on changes to secondary school admissions.
The parents, whose children attend Coombe Road, Fairlight, St Martin’s, Bevendean and Moulsecoomb primary schools, live in the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) catchment, giving them one choice of secondary school.
They back the proposals in the consultation including one known as “open admission” which has proved controversial among some parents.
It would give children in four catchments – for BACA, PACA, Longhill and Patcham High – a better chance of a place at schools such as Dorothy Stringer, Varndean, Blatchington Mill or Hove Park.
The admission changes are aimed in part at tackling a forecast surplus of more than 400 secondary school pupils in Brighton and Hove by 2031.
The council also hopes that the proposed changes would help to address an attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils.
Equity in Education has welcomed open admissions and is working alongside the long-standing east Brighton group Class Divide to try to give all children in Brighton and Hove a “meaningful choice” of secondary school.
The group has highlighted the need for improved public transport to and from school – and the deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor has promised a review.
In its public response to the consultation, Equity in Education said that the proposals were a missed opportunity..
The response said: “The communities who live in the BACA catchment area often lack a voice.
“From our experience, very few people from this area knew about the council’s engagement exercise and even fewer contributed to it.
“We think, therefore, that the decision to discount a shake-up of catchment area boundaries was premature and taken without really listening to the voices of this part of the city.
“The concentration of deprivation in this area is higher than in other areas of the city, with over half of children at BACA eligible for free school meals.
“The current catchment area boundaries intensify this segregation. One of the things we have heard repeatedly from families here is a desire for a fairer system of catchment areas.”
Mother of two Nicola Clewer, whose eldest child is seven and attends Bevendean Primary School, is one of the parents trying to raise awareness of the consultation and the issues around the imbalance between the largest and smallest schools and the widening attainment gap.
One of her frustrations is the argument around transport, particularly as some children in the BACA catchment live physically closer to Dorothy Stringer and Varndean.
She said: “Many children in north east Brighton cannot attend their closest school because of the way in which the existing catchment areas have been drawn.
“It should also be noted that the vast majority of children in the city live more than 15 minutes’ walk from their secondary school and large numbers of children catch buses to school every day.”
Another mother, Georgina Baldwin, who has children currently in year 6 and year 3 at primary school, wants more choice.
She said: “My son with excitement looked at secondary schools across the city. He is autistic and doesn’t see attainment – only what a school feels like.
“He loved Varndean but as a parent I had to discourage this ‘choice’ as he didn’t stand a chance of getting a place out of catchment and I knew the disappointment and upset that would bring.
“The reality is there was never really a choice available, only the illusion of one. That’s why things needs to change.”
The group’s full response is available to view at educationequity.kit.com/response.
Dorothy Stringer’s governors are against the open admission criterion and want to see the effects of giving priority for children receiving free school meals from September 2025.
People in the Varndean and Stronger catchment formed the Parent Campaign Group, raising concerns about the effects of the proposed policy changes.
They said that, if the proposals become policy, more than 140 children living in the Varndean and Stringer catchment would be unable to join either school in September 2026.
The consultation on the proposed changes includes a plan to reduce the year 7 intakes at three schools in September 2026
• Longhill – down 60 from 270 to 210 pupils
• Blatchington Mill – down 30 from 330 to 300 pupils
• Dorothy Stringer – down 30 from 330 to 300 pupils
Another change would alter the boundary of the catchment area for Longhill and the catchment area for Dorothy Stringer and Varndean.
The proposed change would give children in Whitehawk a better chance of going to two of the area’s most popular schools.
At the time of writing, more than 2,100 people had responded to the consultation on the Your Voice section of the council’s website.
The deadline to respond is Friday 31 January.
