Hove Park School looks to close Valley Campus

Hove Park School is preparing to close its Valley Campus, in Hangleton Way, as pupil numbers fall and, as they fall, income drops.

The cost of keeping two sites open when pupil numbers could fall further has made it harder for the school to deal with a deficit of more than £500,000.

Even before the latest forecasts, pupil numbers have gone 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.

The school has about 160 staff, some of them part-time, and an annual budget of about £10 million. It is against this background that the old Knoll Girls site may shut.

Talk have been taking place with Brighton and Hove City Council. As the local authority, the council could end up footing the bill if the school proved unable to balance its books.

Increasingly, the council is encouraging schools to work together to share costs as and when appropriate.

Schools that are unable to persuade the council that they can balance their books may receive a notice of concern and could find that control of their finances is taken out of their hands.

Today (Tuesday 14 January) head teacher Jim Roberts has written to parents about “some important information on potential changes at Hove Park School”.

He said: “As many of you will have read, there is a falling roll across the city and the local authority is currently carrying out consultation on secondary school catchment areas and pupil admission numbers.

“Funding for schools is based on pupil numbers, rather than a set amount per school. All school budgets remain under pressure and these financial challenges are creating substantial difficulties on our own school budget which we need to address.

“From September 2026, our maximum intake will be 180 students, in every year group. Given this context we have been discussing with the local authority the possibility of consolidating Hove Park on to a single site.

“Based on initial capacity assessments, the Nevill campus has been identified as the most suitable location.

“While any potential move would not take place before September 2027, I want to emphasise that this timeline is provisional and subject to extensive consultation and planning processes.

“We believe that, with careful planning and design, this opportunity would present an exciting chance to maintain our school’s distinctive culture and ethos while improving operational efficiency.

“To ensure we can continue delivering our curriculum, in addition to all the enrichment opportunities and experiences the students currently enjoy, the local authority recognises that additional building work would be required.

“This would include additional classrooms and specialised facilities to accommodate all our students safely.

“We are committed to ensuring that any changes would not reduce the quality, experiences or opportunities that we currently provide.

“The local authority, school leadership team and governors are united in prioritising the quality of education, for both current and future students and understand that this news may raise concerns about how these changes might affect your child’s educational experience.

“A formal consultation process is required, that may begin in the summer term, during which all students, parents and carers will have opportunities to share their views.

“While these are preliminary discussions, I believe it is important that we are transparent about potential changes that could affect our school community.

“We will be holding face-to-face meetings as part of the consultation process and will firm up the details of these as soon as we have further information to share.

“I am really excited about the potential of this project and the benefits it will bring to our students and the community.”