Councillors voted to close the oldest school in Brighton at a special meeting today (Thursday 21 May).
More than 1,300 people signed a petition presented by parents calling on Brighton and Hove City Council to save Middle Street Primary School from closure.
But despite impassioned pleas from Green, Conservative and Independent councillors at the meeting at Brighton Town Hall – a few hundred yards from the school – the vote to close the school passed because of the ruling Labour group’s majority.
Pippa Terry presented the petition at the start of the special council meeting, underlining how the school was more than a financial balance sheet.
She said: “Middle Street was once a school with a waiting list and, in fact, operating at over 90 per cent occupancy just over a year ago.
“The current situation did not happen overnight. Concerns were raised, confidence lost and numbers fell. Many in the community feel these issues were not addressed early enough.
“Children and families should not be left to carry the consequences of failures they did not create.”
The council appointed an interim executive board (IEB) in June last year – a step that had to be signed off by the Education Secretary. It followed concerns about governance and financial viability
The school ran up a deficit of more than £400,000 in two years, in part because staff were suspended on full pay or absent on long-term sick leave. The cost of supply teachers added to the budget pressures.
The IEB explored federating with another school or schools but when just three families applied for a reception place at Middle Street for September, the IEB recommended closing the school.
As the school enters its final half term, just 37 children remain. Of those, 27 are in year 6 and due to start secondary school in September.
Green councillor Ellen McLeay said that the school did not suddenly become unviable. Parents started raising concerns about governance in November 2024, she said. But their complaints were not followed up or passed on and they were considered a “nuisance”.
Councillor McLeay said: “These serious failures are the foundation of the proposed closure because, by the time action was taken, reputational damage was already done.
“Very loyal parents lost faith and, in some cases, were exhausted and sought stability for their children.”
The West Hill and North Laine councillor said that it was important not to “wrap the closure in the narrative of falling pupil numbers” which has led to the closure of three other primary schools in the past two years.
She urged the council to take a closer look at how it deals with whistle-blowing and ensure concerns are acted upon.
Her fellow Green councillor Sue Shanks, who also represents West Hill and North Laine, reflected on the impact of the wider community.
Councillor Shanks said that lifelong friendships were made at the school gates and parents walking to school also supported local shops.
She mentioned the closure of St Bartholomew’s CofE School, in Ann Street, Brighton, in 2024 and said: “There is a real loss of community in that area because parents aren’t going to just hang around outside the school gates to use the shops along London Road.
“So we have a huge impact on the community as well.”
Conservative leader Alistair McNair raised concerns about how Middle Street had run up a six-figure deficit in such a short time – as had a number of other schools in Brighton and Hove.
Councillor McNair also spoke about governance, saying: “There have been concerns over head teacher recruitment. Parents complained about a lack of transparency from the council, a lack of answers all played out in the media.
“None of this can have been helpful for the staff and, more importantly, the pupils.”
Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Mark Earthey said that he could not “sanction the closure”.
Councillor Earthey said: “I appreciate … the numbers and I really would want a full inquiry first as to why we have got to here and then reserve judgment.
“Something has clearly gone desperately, desperately wrong here and I just really do need to know why.”
The Labour deputy leader of the council, Jacob Taylor, said that the school was a vibrant part of central Brighton’s community which his family knew well because his wife attended the school.
Councillor Taylor said: “I want to be clear that the failures in governance and financial management at the school up to May 2025 are serious issues.
“The council needs to properly examine whether these were avoidable which is why we have agreed to an independent review of the sequence of events leading up to that point.”
He said that it would be carried out by someone independent from the council who had yet to be named.
All the Labour councillors voted for the closure along with one Green councillor. The rest of the Greens and all the Conservative and Independent councillors voted against.
The school is due to close formally at the end of August, with the last few dozen pupils due to leave in July.
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School closed in May 3915, Homewood College closed in December 2024, St Bartholomews CE Primary School closed in August 2024, & St Peter’s Community Primary & Nursery School in August 2024 – all under this Labour Administrations watch.
With Middle St Primary School set to close & St Christopher’s School in Hove due to close next year.
Primarily driven by a Conservative Government’s policies that discouraged people from having children due to extreme austerity.
Utter BS
Here’s some data to support: https://www.unfpa.org/press/unfpa-report-links-falling-birth-rates-cost-living-sexist-norms-fear-future
Labour’s 2023 local election manifesto even had a heading that said ‘Keeping schools open’, and they led residents to believe it was something a Labour council was aiming to do. I’ve lost count of the number this Labour Council has since closed.
I do think that as you’re a Tory Councillor Ivan, you need to share some of the responsibility though. It was Tory austerity and funding cuts which has pushed many schools close to the bring in the first place. Labour’s main problem is that they have essentially become Tories and now have their own austerity agenda. They have far from fixed the national school funding crisis, and until they stop mimicking conservative politics our public services, schools, libraries etc remain at risk of closure.
The other key problem within Labour is honesty. I guess you could argue that Tories made it clear they had an austerity agenda, whereas Labour pretend they don’t and then vote for cuts and erode public services anyway.
The manifesto does explicitly say “where possible” though. Unfortunately, it’s no longer just a funding issue, the sad reality at the moment is that we in Brighton are having far less children. Maybe the scrapping of the two child benefit will reverse that, but for now, maintaining surplus buildings when ever penny is being counted, wouldn’t be conservative or financially responsible.
let’s hope the next government which won’t be Labout reverses the two child benefit cap and once again scraps it! Two children per family is quite enough and if you want any more than you should be in a position to pay for it yourself. How many other counties give you money to have kids?
Hungary, Russia, Poland, Estonia, France, Japan, China, Vietnam, Italy, Greece, South Korea, Turkey, and Kazakhstan off the top of my head.
Unfortunately, economic theory tells us that we need more young people to support the older population and company into pensions.
It is 100% clear the message the 2023 Labour local manifesto was trying to convey and they have not stuck to it. They knew birth rates had dropped when they wrote their manifesto, it is not a new thing that has suddenly happened.
They also implied they wouldn’t close libraries, they have. They explicitly said they would not reintroduce glyphosate, they have. The list could go on. In short, the 2023 local Labour manifesto was just a work of fiction.
They won’t be trusted again.
Honestly, I think schools were a silly thing to put into the manifesto because of the birth rate trends, and even with the qualifier, people are, of course, going to be disappointed when a school has to close, even if it was perfectly reasonable, logical, and financially responsible to do so.
Libraries are an interesting one as well, because I don’t think the story is at the end of the two, particularly since we know VCSE is looking to take on these specific spaces themselves, and there is perhaps a wider co-design opportunity about how the sector is empowered more to take on at-risk or underutilised community spaces.
My personal opinion is that, like most things in life, false dichotomous reasoning denies nuance and appreciation of the individual circumstances. One needs to be able to steer, because otherwise, at some point, one is going to crash into a wall.
Labour are by far the most dishonest party. Rayner even lied about HMRC phoning her at 6.30am in the morning to tell her she was exonerated when their phonelines don’t open until 8am! Plus no one exonerated her from anything. The only reason she paid the full stamp duty on her Hove flat was to enter the Labour leadership battle. Voters, take note. She would have never have paid it otherwise and no one was enforcing it.
I can’t believe one Green voted with Liebour on this. Tell us who? Whoever was should have a serious look in the mirror!!! Whatta joke of a “party”.
This really isn’t news as it was predetermined ages ago. It was just an exercise in rubber-stamping. It is this kind of behaviour that has led to the disillusionment with the established parties and anger at local politicians who ignore the (diminishing) electorate.
It’s all about the land. Everything is a ‘site’ to this council. Another despicable decision which wasn’t in the local Labour manifesto of May 2023.
The Council must be rubbing their hands in glee, thinking how much money they could make from selling the site
With all this money being saved, surely the Council can keep the Adult Centre off Elm Grove open at a cost of £4000,000 a Year.
There will literally be nothing left in B&H Soon.
We have City status, doesn’t feel like it.
It’s just getting a dump
Don’t forget Hereford Infants has gone to the Junior Site so that another school joining the list
St Barts
St Peters
St Joesph’s
Homewood
Hove Park-Valley Campus will be joining Nevill in 2027
What does the Council plan to do with empty buildings-sell off for Housing
Sorry Hertford Infants gone to Juniors
Make a wonderful multi storey
This is desperately sad. Middle Street is the oldest school in Brighton and its closure marks a real loss for the whole city, and particularly for the families directly affected.
An independent inquiry is the right call, but the word ‘independent’ will need to mean something. The questions that need answering go beyond falling rolls and budget pressures. Experienced teachers don’t leave en masse without reason. When a headteacher appointment goes wrong and is not addressed swiftly, the consequences cascade, with staff leaving or going off sick and the budget deteriorates. All that means children are left in an increasingly difficult environment.
Most seriously, parents raised safeguarding concerns with the council’s education team as far back as October 2024. Those complaints were not properly investigated until an Interim Executive Board was finally put in place in June 2025 – by which point families had already withdrawn children and the school’s future was effectively sealed. Serious incidents were reportedly not recorded in line with statutory requirements. That is not a governance failure at school level alone – it is a question of what the council knew, when it knew it, and why it did not act sooner.
The children and families of Middle Street deserved better.
Awful. The sooner this Labour shower falls, the better.
Labour. Schools close. Businesses close. But free breakfast and train fares frozen