Parents applying for secondary school places for this September say they were not told about changes to the admissions process made while applications were still being made.
As a result of a challenge by campaign groups to a wider reworking of admissions criteria, Brighton and Hove City Council’s plan to reduce the number of spaces at two oversubscribed schools were blocked.
But despite the council saying it had emailed the hundreds of families affected by the change, many parents say they did not hear anything.
Mum Natasha Priest contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service as she does not know a single parents who received an email from the council about the Office of the School Adjudicator’s decision to block the changes at Dorothy Stringer and Blatchington Mill.
She was one of more than a dozen who posted on the Facebook Group Brighton and Hove School Catchments, saying they had heard nothing since the email confirmation she’d applied on 19 October.
Mrs Priest said: “From asking a large group of parents from current year six, I cannot yet find a single one who got the email.
“The council also does not appear to have asked schools to communicate the outcome to parents.
“To be honest, the communication from the council throughout the process was minimal – which I thought was shocking given how complex the new arrangements were.
“At a minimum, the council needs to check that their communications with parents are actually getting through.”
Another mother, Jane Setchell, applied for her son’s secondary school place in September 2025.
Mrs Setchell said: “We noted in accompanying information the promise we’d be told of any changes imposed by the schools adjudicator, to allow us to amend our four choices if we wanted.
“We received no email, nor did anyone else I know.
“Our children learn on 2 March which school has been allocated – I would be extremely disappointed if some of my son’s friends miss out on a place at Dorothy Stringer or Blatchington Mill as a result of the council’s mistake.
“I am sure they will appeal if that happens. It’s a pretty monumental error.
“I really don’t understand how on earth it happened, it’s become a bit of a shit show to be honest.”
Brighton and Hove City Council approved the changes to the September 2026 admissions rules to community secondary schools by 38 votes to 11 at a special council meeting in February 2025.
The changes included giving wider choice for children in catchment areas with a single school. Children eligible for free school meals were also given a greater priority.
On Monday, 20 October the Office of the Schools Adjudicator released its ruling backing the changes to admissions but blocked the council’s plans to reduce the number of year seven pupils starting at Dorothy Stringer and Blatchington Mill schools this coming September.
A council press release quoted the deputy leader councillor Jacob Taylor as saying: “We will contact all parents and carers that have already submitted secondary school applications for 2026/27 to explain these changes.”
Council leader Bella Sankey’s October Update video also said parents would be written to about the decision. www.facebook.com/reel/25670142309255732
A freedom of information request on the What Do They Know website from Jim Blackwood found that 1,156 families had applied for a secondary school place before Sunday 19 October last year, out of a total of 2,437 by the deadline 11 days later.
The council said it sent out 1,156 emails about the decision and included an image showing hundreds of redacted email addresses on blind carbon copy (BCC) on the email explaining the situation.
The council confirmed the email went out to all primary and junior schools with year six pupils.
A spokesperson for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “A communication was sent to parents following the school adjudicator’s decision, but we do take seriously reports that some families did not receive it.
“This does not, however, impact the overall admissions process. Parents were invited to use their four preferences and the criteria used to prioritise applications did not change as a result of the adjudicator’s decision.”
What a bizarre quote from the council:
‘This does not impact the overall admissions process’
How can the council possibly know this? People applied before the adjudicator decision based on PANs that then changed after they applied – so clearly it could have an impact.
Have they asked parents impacted by this missing email if it made a difference to their 4 choices?
“Shit show” nails it really. What an awful experience this has been for parents. So incredibly stressful and confusing.
Shit show sums it up perfectly. Perhaps Jacob Taylor could take a day off from point scoring and spend a few hours talking to children who are affected by his daft plans.
When can we vote them out?
With the multitude of recent issues related to school admissions in the city, one has to ask where our Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Youth Services has been for the past two years.
Council papers make clear that their remit includes Local Authority education. Yet, in practice, responsibility appears, at least in part, to have been assumed by the Cabinet Member for Finance and City Regeneration.
If that is not the case, it would be helpful to see a clear account of who has been leading on school admissions, and why this issue has been so visibly fronted by a different portfolio.
Youre very lucky to get your first choice these days unless you go out of town.
It’s shocking how little accountability this council has. Not just on this issue, but many others.
They simply don’t want to listen.
Just wait until there is an issue with any of the academies, because they literally won’t have any accountability!
Sounds like they are driving schools into becoming academies to be honest.
So what it comes to is regardless of non communication and errors the Council is always correct and that their policies will stand. Not very impressive if your one of the families involved.
Communication comes up a lot when it comes to departments.