The biggest school in Brighton and Hove is carrying out a consultation on its admission rules for September 2027.
Cardinal Newman Catholic School, in The Upper Drive, Hove, has proposed adjusting the criteria used when the school is oversubscribed.
The criteria would include an element linked to children eligible for free school meals, reflecting a change affecting other schools that has already been made by Brighton and Hove City Council.
As a faith school, Cardinal Newman sets its own admissions rules and has a published admission number (PAN) of 360. Each intake includes 12 forms – and Newman also has a sixth-form college.
The number of first-choice preferences for a place at the start of the current school year, last September, totalled 523.
A third missed out, with the school allocating a place 349 of them. Eleven children were allocated a place despite the school being their second choice.
The biggest group allocated a place at Newman were “other children” at the nine Catholic feeder schools including seven in Brighton and Hove as well as St Peter’s, in Shoreham, and Annecy, in Seaford.
The number of feeder schools dropped after St Joseph’s RC Primary, in Hollingdean, closed last July.
Newman has 13 admissions criteria for September 2026, from Catholic children in care to any other child.
Proposals on the school’s admissions consultation are for eight oversubscription criteria.
- Catholic looked after children
- Catholic children attending one of the eight Catholic feeder primary schools
- Other Catholic children
- Other looked-after children
- Catechumens (those preparing for baptism into the Catholic church) and Eastern Christian Church members
- Non-Catholic children attending one of the eight Catholic feeder primary schools
- Children of other Christian denominations and those of other faiths whose membership is evidenced by a minister of religion
- Other children
In each category, recognition will be given to children with siblings at the school, those receiving free school meals – up to the average for Brighton and Hove – and children of staff employed at the school for two years or more.
The move follows changes to the council’s admissions rules for last September to give a higher priority to children eligible for free school meals.
Last year, Newman consulted on a proposal for September 2026 admissions. Many of those responding to the consultation objected to the proposals.
The abandoned proposals would have given Catholic children who were eligible for free school meals the second-highest priority and non-Catholic children eligible for free school meals the seventh-highest priority.
The consultation responses found that there was concern that the proposal would give children eligible for free school meals a higher priority than non-Catholic children with siblings at the school.
There was also concern about the effect on non-Catholic children at the nine named Catholic feeder schools who would have had a lower priority than children receiving free school meals.
Cardinal Newman Catholic School was approached for comment.
The consultation is open until Friday 30 January in the admissions policy section of school’s website.
The council’s consultation on admissions rule changes at local authority maintained secondary schools – by adjusting sibling link criteria and waiting list options as well as changing intakes at two primary schools – closed today (Friday 9 January).
It strikes me as being rather creepy that a school’s admissions policies place such an emphasis on prospective pupils (and their families), being members of a certain cult prior to being admitted. Should we really be teaching the fallacies about Noah’s Ark, Adam and Eve and the world only being around five thousand years old to children in this day and age?
As a former pupil I can say that as a strong catholic focus including weekly mass and heavy religious focus in evert aspect and lessons it makes sense that catholics get priority.
Some non Catholic children that were accepted withdrew within the year they joined as it was a very catholic centric curriculum, and non religious upbringing mean mismatched values created a struggle for those pupils to behave within expected behaviours as the standard of compliance is higher than other schools and that is why attainment and real life functional skills is higher at this school. My peers at rhe school often said peers from other schools didn’t have such high standards of education and my non newman peers expressed the same to me from Brighton and Hove. The only other schools that attained the same were private schools
The school is mostly state funded so it does not actually make sense.
There are better and more enlightened ways of teaching children good values don’t involve sinister untruths such as the concepts of hell and redemption through suffering.
I think you might be misrepresenting what RE classes actually entail.
It strikes me as being rather creepy that a school’s admissions policies place such an emphasis on prospective pupils (and their families), being members of a certain cult prior to being admitted. Should we really be teaching the fallacies about Noah’s Ark, Adam and Eve and the world only being around five thousand years old to children in this day and age?
Other schools teach that people can change their chromosomes and DNA and switch sex to primary school kids. Is that any more credible than Adam and Eve.
I don’t think they teach that people can change their dna but I take your point. I don’t necessarily agree with that but it is a separate issue.
I am intrigued to understand someone’s thinking that believes that this excellent school promulgates “fallacies about Noah’s ark, Adam & Eve and the world being around 5,000 years old!” Perhaps they could have benefited from the erudition practised by this institution to help relieve them of their ignorance?
It is a Catholic school. The Catholic church sees these biblical claims as literal facts when it is patently clear they are not. Erudite or otherwise, in an era where the separation of facts and opinion is becoming increasingly blurred, (just look at the defense of recent events in Minneapolis by US govt officials), it does children no favours to teach such things in this way.
Notwithstanding the above, the admissions criteria for the school can only be viewed as prejudiced. Given that Catholic schools are state funded to the tune of in excess of 80% in many cases, this cannot be considered as inclusive to all which is disappointing to say the least in this day and age.
1) It is defence not defense!
2) Someone who believes that Biblical claims such as Adam and Eve & Noah’s Ark are claimed as literal facts by the Catholic Church is misguided or definitely misunderstanding the precepts espoused.
3) It is a Catholic school and does not pretend to be anything else. This is in contrast to the C of E education system.
4) Perhaps you could look closer to home when you refer to the blurring and separation of facts and opinion?
5) The standard of education that this school provides is usually above the norm and it consistently turns out well-rounded individuals who possess the ability to evaluate their own moral code and religious beliefs.
Well, I had excellent teachers here who were kind and compassionate, a monk who looked after the chapel who was so laid back he was horizontal, and, despite my…youthful behaviour, I did extremely well academically.
I’ve always been a very clear in my atheism, and I’ve never felt pressured to feel any particular way regarding theology.
Didn’t Goldup also get an MBE from the King for his services to education?
Mr Goldup was made an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours last year. He taught me for four years (including sixth form) and was my form tutor in the fifth year (what they call year 11 these days)
Religious schools in the 21st century are a joke. Religious discrimination is not. Disgraceful.
Three of my non Catholic children attended Newman as I fought to prevent them going to our dreadful local school. They did very well – two now have Masters degrees – and certainly were not indoctrinated. They were, however, taught excellent values and thrived in the nurturing environment the school provides.
Which is why I am sure you will agree, the listed criteria for admission to the school is highly prejudiced.
Yet a Catholic cannot be the monarch nor technically Prime Minister as they are responsible for recommending episcopal appointments in the C of E. As the Catholic Church contributes to these establishments, they should and do have a say in their admissions policy.