Secondary school head teachers have praised the compromise on “open admissions” being put before a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting tomorrow (Thursday 27 February).
The praise follows controversy over council plans to bring in an open admissions policy – reserving some places at four schools for children outside their catchment areas.
The policy would widen choice for children and families in four catchment areas where there is only one state secondary school – BACA, Longhill, PACA and Patcham High.
The council had proposed allocating 20 per cent of places at secondaries in two-school catchments – Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer, Hove Park and Varndean – to pupils from single-school catchments.
After an eight-week public consultation, the council has stuck with the idea in principle but cut the proposed proportion of places from 20 per cent to 5 per cent.
Eight of the 10 state school secondary head teachers in Brighton and Hove have written a joint public letter to the council, published today.
The head teachers of Blatchington Mill and Varndean are the only two not to have signed the letter, with a decision due to be made at a special meeting of the full council at Hove Town Hall tomorrow.
The decision will set the policy for secondary school admissions for September next year to the six local authority maintained schools – Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer, Hove Park, Longhill, Patcham High and Varndean.
Two academies, BACA and PACA, and two faith schools, Cardinal Newman Catholic School and the King’s School, set their own admissions policies.
The heads’ letter said: “We want to formally recognise and support the recent compromise made by the local authority in reducing the open priority admissions from 20 per cent to 5 per cent for pupils outside the two central catchment areas.
“This adjustment demonstrates the council’s willingness to engage in thoughtful dialogue and to find a balanced approach to school admissions that addresses the concerns of all stakeholders.
“We understand that this decision represents a considered response to the diverse perspectives raised during the consultation and we are appreciative of the effort to safeguard the best interests of both local students and the wider community.
“We also want to acknowledge the moral purpose behind the local authority’s proposals, particularly in promoting socially mixed schools and reducing educational inequality.
“We too advocate for an inclusive and equitable system that strengthens social cohesion and supports our collective mission to provide an education system where every pupil has the chance to reach their full potential.
“While we continue to have individual responses to various aspects of the consultation, we are united in our shared commitment to working collaboratively with the council, families and the wider community to ensure a sustainable and inclusive future for education in Brighton and Hove.
“We remain focused on our collective responsibility to create a system where every pupil, regardless of background, has the opportunity to thrive and succeed.
“We look forward to continuing our partnership in the development of a vision for education that serves the needs of all students in our city.”
Other proposed changes include offering four preferences instead of three on application forms, reducing the published admission number (PAN) at three schools – Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer and Longhill – and adjusting two catchments.
The adjustments involve the Dorothy Stringer and Varndean catchment and the neighbouring Longhill catchment. Part of Whitehawk will be included in the Stringer and Varndean area while Kemp Town will become part of the Longhill catchment.
The signatories to the letter were
- John McKee at Patcham High
- Matt Hillier at Dorothy Stringer
- Rachelle Otulakowski at Longhill
- Jim Roberts at Hove Park
- Jack Davies at the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA)
- Mark Poston at the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA)
- Sarah Price at the King’s School
- Claire Jarman at Cardinal Newman Catholic School
Nice try Jacob Taylor, I hear you worked hard to bully heads into signing this. 4 of these schools aren’t even maintained by the local authority and don’t follow your admissions criteria. And not one single primary school head has signed, as the experts in preparing children to transition to secondary. The open admissions priority is a solution looking for a problem. We’re told it’s to improve choice for families on the outskirts of the city, but those families can and do already choose from multiple schools including those in Peacehaven and Lewes – it’s all in the published admissions documents!
Parents on the outskirts only look to schools in Peacehaven and Lewes as there is no other choice within Brighton, I am absolutely sure these parents would prefer to send their children to a school in the city they live in and not have to commute to Peacehaven and Lewes, these proposals are long overdue . . .
Will that still hold when the boundaries change?
Don’t they know about political trickery? Propose something absurd, pare it back after the hullabaloo, set up a precedent for future increases. With luck, enough people are too embarrassed to complain about a compromise. It’s a nonsense. Whether you impact negatively the lives of 250 or 50 children — it makes no difference. The principle of sending children like cargo in opposite directions across the city in peak times is wrong, however much you favour social mixing and equal opportunity. We need all council-maintained schools brought up to the same level as those perceived to be the best, not social experiments to boost the egos and platforms of politicians seeking promotion in a combined authority.