Parents will be given a chance to air their views en masse about plans by their children’s school to become an academy at a council-run public meeting next week.
The meeting has been organised after complaints that Woodingdean Primary School was limiting attendance to its own consultation events to just 10 people.
Brighton and Hove City Council today announced that it was holding the meeting next Wednesday (25 June) at Woodingdean Community Centre, which has space for 85 people.
Woodingdean Primary School told parents last week that it was looking to join the Eko Trust which currently runs 10 schools.
The council’s meeting is described as being led by councillors and attended by senior education officers.
Woodingdean Primary School’s leadership team and governing body, along with union representatives and the Parent Carers’ Council (PaCC) have also been invited.
Labour councillor Emma Daniel, the council’s cabinet member for children, families and youth services, said that the council was disappointed at the school’s proposal to join an academy trust.
Councillor Daniel said: “We believe academisation leads to greater fragmentation of the education system in the city and removes accountability from local communities and parents.
“We are seeing an unprecedented reduction in the number of primary-aged children in the city. Joining a trust does not create more children – and fewer children means schools have fewer funds available.
“We’re keen to work with all school leaders in the city and learn from what has been a challenging situation for many schools over the past few years.
“Years of underfunding from national government has not only affected schools. It’s affected local authorities too and has contributed to the difficult climate.
“We’re keen to work together to make sure we’re doing all we can to safeguard the future of the city’s schools.”
A public consultation is under way until Friday 4 July, with details on Woodingdean Primary School’s website.
Labour councillor Jacqui Simon, who represents Woodingdean ward, shared her disappointment that four public meetings organised so far by the school for tomorrow (Thursday 19 June) and Friday (20 June) were limited to 10 people each.
Councillor Simon said: “This seems like a deliberate attempt to stop people from hearing all points of view. The academy system is wildly inefficient, promoting competition between schools rather than collaboration.
“We have two fantastic schools in Woodingdean and energies would be better spent sharing and developing expertise together rather than engaging in competition over enrolling the community’s children.”
Fellow Labour councillor Jacob Allen, who also represents Woodingdean and is a former pupil at the school, said: “As a community, we value transparency and local accountability.
“Moving toward academy status risks undermining these principles and removes democratic oversight at a time when our focus should be on strengthening public education, not fragmenting it.
“I urge the school to fully involve parents, carers, staff and the wider community before taking any steps that could irreversibly alter its future at a time when the trust in question is not on a stable footing.”
In the consultation document, the governors said that joining the trust would give the school a better chance of achieving an outstanding Ofsted rating, improve teacher recruitment and retention and help with budgeting because per-pupil funding had not kept up with costs.
The consultation document said: “We have given the first two options a great deal of consideration, including receiving a presentation from the LA (local authority) setting out how they could support the school.
“However, we concluded that remaining as an LA school, whether standalone or federated, would not enable the school to effectively address the three key considerations.”
Since 2019, Brighton and Hove City Council has reduced the published admission number (PAN) at several primary and infant schools because of falling numbers, with national funding on a per-pupil basis.
Woodingdean Primary has previously been earmarked for a reduction but retains a PAN of 60, making it a two-form entry school.
The public meeting is due to take place from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at Woodingdean Community Centre, in Warren Road.
To book one of the 85 places, visit the Eventbrite page headed Public meeting to discuss Woodingdean Primary School academisation proposal at www.eventbrite.com/e/1410601490029.
Woodingdean Primary School said: “We have proposed that we become an academy and join the high-performing Eko Trust because we want to provide the highest quality of education possible to the children at our school.
“This plan is solely about what is in their best interests and governors reached that view after a thorough and comprehensive two-year analysis of the options open to them which included whether to remain as a local authority school.
“Sadly it was clear that the local authority is not able to help move our school to the next level.
“It has acknowledged it has chronic financial problems, it has not been able to provide specialist resources which we have therefore had to procure externally and three times it has campaigned to reduce the size of our school so that fewer children can come here.
“Eko is one of England’s leading academy trusts, achieving superb results for all pupils, including those with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) and who are disadvantaged.
“Three of its 10 schools are rated outstanding by Ofsted and all others inspected while part of Eko are rated good.
“It also already operates in Brighton after two primary schools, Hangleton and Benfield, joined it last year.
“Both schools are full of praise for Eko and the progress they have made since joining the trust. It is forward-thinking, invests in its people, is ambitious for what its pupils can achieve and is well run.
“We are excited by the huge opportunities that joining Eko will give our fantastic staff team, our pupils and their families.
“As an academy we will still be a state school, we will have the same name and same uniform, we will retain all of what makes us special already and we will remain a committed part of the Brighton and Hove state education system that we are so invested in – but we will be able to do even more for our wonderful pupils, which is our number one priority.
“We assume this is also the local authority’s objective and that it therefore supports the school’s proposal to become an academy.”
The school added: “The consultation document is clear that we will arrange as many meetings as are required. We organised four initially with parents and have since added two more.
“These meetings will be for no more than 10 people each so that everyone who attends is able to speak, which is often not the case at meetings attended by large numbers.
“We want to hear the views of our parents and staff and value their opinions.”
