Two primary schools look likely to stick with smaller intake

Two primary schools where the Reception intakes were cut in the short term now look likely to stick with smaller year groups permanently.

Brighton and Hove City Council is proposing to reduce the published admission number (PAN) for Brunswick Primary School, in Hove, and Coldean Primary School, in Brighton, from September 2028.

The proposals are set out in an annual report on school admissions which is due to go before the council’s cabinet next Thursday (12 November).

If approved, the council will hold a public consultation on the plans, starting on Monday 23 November, with the details on its website.

The consultation would run for seven weeks, with a final decision due to be made in February.

Brunswick Primary School, in Somerhill Road, Hove, was once the largest in Brighton and Hove, with a PAN of 120.

After cutting its intake to 90 from September 2023, the school has since maintained a temporary reduction to 60 each year from September 2025 and including the intake next year.

On national offer day this year, the school offered places to 52 children for Reception class in September.

In 2021, Brunswick successfully appealed to the schools’ adjudicator to keep its PAN at 120, after the council voted to reduce admissions to 90 for September 2022.

Coldean Primary School, in Kenwards, Brighton, has an intake of 60 but offered places to 36 children for Reception in September this year.

Class sizes are limited to 30 for the first three years of primary school and government funding is based on pupil numbers.

As a result, the school would have to provide two classes and two teachers as though there were 60 children joining while receiving funding for just over half that number.

Coldean reduced its admissions to 30 Reception pupils for the 2025-26 school year and again for new starters in September 2027.

The governing bodies of both schools back the council’s proposed reductions.

The number of under-fives in Brighton and Hove has fallen by a quarter between the 2011 and 2021 census.

Coldean was one of seven schools subject to a public consultation to reduce its intake for September 2023 because of falling pupil numbers across Brighton and Hove.

Such was the strength of feeling when the reductions were proposed for Bevendean, Carden, Coldean, Queen’s Park, Rudyard Kipling, Saltdean and Woodingdean that the council abandoned its plans.

The report to the council’s cabinet said: “There is a risk that the proposed reductions in the published admission numbers at Brunswick Primary School and Coldean Primary School could reduce parental preference options in some areas.

“However, the proposed PAN reductions reflect sustained patterns of demand, support the efficient use of school places and will assist the affected schools in planning staffing and financial resources on a more sustainable basis.

“The council’s pupil forecasts indicate that sufficient school places will remain available across the city if the proposals are implemented.”

Two online events are scheduled for families to discuss the proposals. The Coldean event is scheduled for 6pm on Wednesday 25 November. Brunswick’s is scheduled for 6pm on Tuesday 1 December.

The council’s cabinet is due to meet at 10.30am at Hove Town Hall next Thursday (12 November). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast.