A councillor and a parent have spoken out about plans to close a secondary school site and consolidate all year groups in one location – but on different sides of the debate.
Hove Park School asked Brighton and Hove City Council to start a consultation on closing the Valley Campus, in Hangleton Way, and base all pupils at the Nevill Campus, in Nevill Road.
Currently, children in year seven and eight have lessons at the Valley campus which is where the sixth form was also based before it closed.
After attending a meeting about the proposal at the Nevill Campus, Iain Plant, who lives in Hove and has a young child who may attend the school in the future, said that the proposal appeared to be a “done deal” which could face a legal challenge from parents.
He said that moving all pupils to one site would leave the school with no space to grow as thousands of new homes are built in the area including the estate planned at Toads Hole Valley.
Mr Plant said: “How can Brighton and Hove City Council and Hove Park School justify closing a perfectly functioning school site that has received millions in development funding in recent years?
“There will be a duty to educate these new children in this area of Hove which cannot happen if the Valley site is closed.
“Hove Park School provides a vital school for people in the immediate area without having religious selection requirements.
“The numbers of this school will undoubtedly increase significantly. This will not be able to take place if they lose the Valley Campus.
“The Nevill Campus cannot and should not accommodate these extra children.
“The facilities and available capacity is already in place between the two sites at the Nevill and Valley campuses.
“The Valley site must not close as it produces a vital buffer for existing and new families for this area of Hove. School capacity should be increasing in this part of Hove not decreasing.”
Independent councillor Samer Bagaeen, who represents Westdene and Hove Park ward, is also a school governor at Cardinal Newman Catholic School. He believes that the move is right for the school.
Councillor Bagaeen, a professor of planning, has discussed the proposal with Hove Park head teacher Jim Roberts and the Labour deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor before the public consultation started on Tuesday 22 April.
He is in favour of a single campus and said that he was not affected directly but could look objectively at the proposals.
Councillor Bagaeen said: “Clearly, there is a financial case. There is a staffing case as well.
“You could also argue there will also be reduced transportation costs and better use of resources for the school in terms of facilities and equipment.
“There are lower operating costs on a single campus, lower maintenance and administration costs because you reduce the duplication, because you’re not maintaining two libraries, two labs, two sports fields and so on.
“Some subjects are taught at the Valley Campus and some at the Nevill Campus and it’s a better use of teachers’ time if they’re not travelling between sites.
“As a result of that, there’s less of a logistic overhead and the staff can focus on their teaching.”
Pupil numbers have been falling at primary schools across Brighton and Hove and the trend has now starting to affect secondary schools.
Funding is based mainly on the number of students, bringing the cost of keeping two sites open into sharp focus.
The prospect of pupil numbers falling further has made it harder for Hove Park to deal with a deficit of more than £500,000.
Even before the latest forecasts, pupil numbers have fallen from 1,604 in 2013 to 1,214 in 2021 and 1,051 in 2024.
The school’s capacity is 1,604 and the intake – or published admission number (PAN) – is 180. This sets the school on course to have 900 pupils.
The school has about 160 staff, some of them part-time, and an annual budget of about £10 million.
The consultation asks respondents if they support closing the Valley site and what special facilities they would need to support their child if the change goes ahead.
The next in-person consultation event is at the Valley Campus at 2pm on Tuesday 20 May, with an online event scheduled for 6pm on Thursday 22 May.
The consultation – Proposed Changes to Hove Park School – can be found on the council’s website. It is due to end on Tuesday 3 June.
Surely the drop in pupil numbers means smaller classes which should be seen as a positive change?
no, because the school receives funding per pupil so funds decrease and they would not be able to afford the staff.
A smaller intake does not necessarily reduce the cost of maintaining the buildings and thus a higher proportion of the budget is spent on non teaching items.
A smaller intake doesn’t mean there are huge savings on utilities or insurance or fire alarms or business rates and so on.
I would much rather money was spent on teachers and teaching supplies and I’m afraid that does lead to decisions such as this one needing to be taken.
You are right, smaller classes are always seen as a positive change; however, funding for schools is linked to pupil numbers, and it becomes increasingly more difficult to make the financials work. I believe the figure lost per student is around £5,000 a year?