Parents pleaded with councillors to think again about proposals to close two primary schools.
Thousands of people signed petitions to halt the potential closure of St Bartholomew’s Church of England Primary School, in Brighton, and St Peter’s Community Primary School, in Portslade.
Scores of supporters gathered outside a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Thursday 14 December) in a show of support for the schools.
Along with the petitions, deputations of parents also made clear their objections to the proposals in the council chamber.
The closures are currently the subject of a public consultation to deal with hundreds of surplus reception class places across Brighton and Hove.
Council projections suggest that, by 2027, if nothing is done, a quarter of reception class places in local schools will be empty, risking a financial crisis because school funding is based on pupil numbers.
Azhar Naeem led a deputation to councillors on behalf of St Bartholomew’s parents, saying that the proposal to close the school had “sent shockwaves” through children and families.
He said: “This process has been brutally quick. It’s not trauma-informed nor has it an anti-racist approach.
“The proposals to close the school fail to recognise the distressing repercussions it will have on our children, in particular, those with protected characteristics who are a large part of our school.”
Mr Naeem said that the school community of colour, vulnerable and white disadvantaged families would always remember how the final decision was made.
St Bartholomew’s head teacher Katie Blood said that more than 3,000 people had signed the petition to keep the school open and 150 took part in a protest march from the school to the Jubilee Library.
She said that the school had a higher proportion than the local average of vulnerable pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and English as a second language. Half identified as other than white British.
She said: “If the council decides to go ahead with this proposal, they must accept responsibility for the human cost rather than see it as an unfortunate by-product.
“The lives of some of the most vulnerable children, parents and staff will be affected at a time when there is already a mental health crisis and mental health services are already on their knees.”
Labour councillor Jacob Taylor said that, of the 12 schools closest to St Bartholomew’s, nine had a larger number of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) pupils, including the nearest faith schools.
St Paul’s CE Primary School, which is also one-form entry, has 18 more BAME children, and St Mary Magdalene Catholic Primary School, which is less than a mile away, has more than double the number of BAME pupils.
Councillor Taylor, who co-chairs the council’s Children, Families and Schools Committee, said that closing any of the other nearby schools would have a greater impact on BAME families and this factor had been taken into account.
Emily Brewer led a deputation of St Peter’s Community School parents and said that the public consultation process was flawed.
She said that it failed to take into account migration, home-schooled children, youngsters in the nursery and parental choice for a non-faith school.
The school also had a significant proportion of pupils who lived in neighbouring West Sussex.
Miss Brewer said: “It’s unrealistic to expect families to travel up to two miles during rush hour to reallocate children in nurseries and schools, especially those with multiple children without access to a car.
“There are not enough places for reception children to attend a secular school within a one-mile radius – and other year groups are impacted.”
The St Peter’s petition, presented by Kirsty Moore, had more than 1,700 signatures and touched on the effect that closing the nursery would have on working families.
She said that the school had been extended from an infant to a primary in 2013 when the council needed more places because the birth rate had been higher.
She chose the school, she said, because of the support that it offered her autistic daughter who has selective mutism and anxiety.
She added: “She thrives at St Peter’s and receives outstanding support. She thrives because she is nurtured. She feels comfortable because of its small class sizes.
“If St Peter’s was to close, I would have to home educate, meaning I would give up my job and possibly my home due to having no income.”
Councillor Taylor said that more than 1,000 people had responded to the public consultations about the two proposed school closures as well as proposed cuts in admission numbers at nine other schools.
Councillor Taylor said: “I want to acknowledge how sad this situation is for the city and how painful this proposal is for parents, children and staff.
“It breaks my heart to be doing this. It breaks my heart to hear the comments made and the experience relayed.”
Councillor Taylor spoke about a letter that he had received from head teachers earlier this year which highlighted how their budgets were falling as pupil numbers dwindled.
During a debate about finance earlier this month, the council’s chief financial officer told councillors that more than half of Brighton and Hove schools were now running deficit budgets.
Councillor Sue Shanks, who speaks for the Greens on children, families and schools, said that when she was chairing the equivalent committee 12 years ago, the council was expanding primary schools.
She said: “I don’t think the council has tried to close schools before and it’s a very big decision because once you close a school it’s very difficult to reopen the school. If you decrease the size of classes then it is more possible obviously to increase that.
“We feel this hasn’t been thought through enough. It’s a very big decision. We would like to see more of the sort of work that (Emily Brewer has) done being done by officers, including the West Sussex issues, SEND children and the nursery issue.”
Green councillors called for a report into alternative options other than closing a school but did not secure support for the proposal.
Conservative councillor Emma Hogan, a former governor at St Peter’s, said that, as a member of the Children, Families and Schools Committee, she wanted to be well informed about the decision based on the community’s views.
She said: “I want to urge everyone who has signed this petition to ensure they have also taken the time to fill out the council consultation.
“With a petition, we don’t get to see the unique stories behind the person who has signed it.
“The consultation does provide text boxes so the thoughts of the school community can really be put across to us on the Children, Families and Schools Committee.”
The public consultations about proposals to close the two schools and reduce published admission numbers (PAN) at nine primary and infant schools are open on the council website until Friday 22 December.
The results of the consultations and the petitions and deputations will go before the Children, Families and Schools Committee on Monday 22 January. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
Keeping the failing i360 going and stockpiling more and more debt is obviuously far more important than saving two historic schools serving two of the poorest areas of the city. I wonder what offers our council have had for these ‘sites’. For some interesting background, read local historian Judy Middleton’s blogpost below. https://portsladehistory.blogspot.com/2023/11/st-peters-community-primary-school.html
Shambles isn’t it!!
Part of the problem was caused by the fact that the council were swept up by exaggerated projections of pupil numbers about ten years ago and set about needlessly expanding primary school provision in the city at great expense to the tax payer – e.g £2,5M to expand St Andrews school in Hove – https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2014/09/24/expansion-of-hove-school-moves-a-step-closer/
Lots of primary schools at this time lost outdoor space due to over expansion, and less popular schools (mainly outside the wealthy central areas) struggled to fill spaces and lost funding as a result.
It was pretty obvious from the 2010 census data that these projections were based on flawed assumptions, but they went ahead anyway.
3 million Saltdean expansion. 2.5 million Aldrington. Goodness knows how much to open Connaught as an annexe of West Hove Infants – now closed. What a waste. Ditto Hove police station as annexe of West Hove Junior. A lot of money. If you total it all up, pretty close to 30 million. Data to say expansion needed then was unbelievable. Based on numbers registered at local GP surgeries. That was it.
The proposal for St Peter’s primary school and nursery is an absolute joke. If this Labour-led council was committed to working families, single-parent families, ethnic minorities, and SEND, then they wouldn’t be pushing this through to save £2 million. The school’s deficit is less than the Chief Executive’s salary!! And it’s a forecast and due to go down. 28/48 schools are in deficit so it’s a wider issue. Solve this problem and keep schools and nurseries open!! Keep to your party pledges Labour and reduce PANs across ALL schools so everyone can keep serving their communities. It’s ridiculous that there are schools with multiple form entries and are not being reduced. Take action and do the right thing, for once!!!
The decision to close the schools is not well thought through. All the meetings with parents aimed at explaining the reasoning behind this failed to offer any real reassurance or answer the important question of what alternatives to closure were even considered. Telling working parents that commuting to another school up to 2 miles away on public transport is acceptable is rubbish. It is already really hard to work while having small children, council seems dead set on making it impossible.
Closing St Peters would mean my already very anxious child would need to adapt to a new school with much larger classrooms, he wouldn’t get the support that he already receives at St peters. I would have to travel by foot or bus which would have a financial impact. I would have to either change or reduce my working hours. All because the council can’t think or an alternative to save money. I think a child’s education and mental health should be worth more than saving a few quid. It’s absolutely horrendous how this has been handled and has caused so many children and families such stress. These children dealt with covid and now this? They should consider reducing class sizes in other schools that are over subscribed rather than closing 2 small schools that the community rely on so much.
This proposal and the entire consultation process has been an absolute shambles, put forward at a time where it has greatest impact on families and those looking for school places in 2024. I feel this is strategic and purposeful. Labour are breaking their party plendges, we voted to keep schools open and enhance nursery provisions they are trying to close a school with an attached nursery that provides the only affordable flexible wrap around care in the area that I and many other working families can use. Families use this school for their incredible SEND support, this closure will force many children to be unable to attend larger classes, they chose this school FOR the smaller classes and this is now being taken away from them! Sibling groups cannot be supported in the surrounding school due to surplus spaces. St Peters community school and nursery CAN NOT CLOSE.
New new Labour promised not to close schools in their manifesto. You can’t trust new new labour.
The trouble with those campaigning not to close the schools, (and that includes parents and councilors), is there is no alternative plan being offered. The rabble rousers shout the usual claim that the council will prop up the i360 or pay for Beryl bikes knowing full well school funding is paid for by central government through a dedicated grant. With pupil numbers shrinking, (despite extra housing and immigration), that grant will shrink as it is based purely on pupil numbers. So you can either reduce funding accross all Junior schools accross the city, (forcing nearly all into financial trouble), or you can take the unpopular decision to close a couple and ensure survival of the others, (a job made slightly easier because 40% of the pupils at one school are from West Sussex).
Its a hugely emotive issue for thise parents and their children at the school but something has to give and perhaps this can be delayed and eventually these schools will close.
Hurrah for the ‘rabble rousers’ who refuse to accept whatever they are told without question. One minute we are told we are a rich country. Next minute we are told there is no money. Which is it? Are we a rich country or a poor country? We are certainly one of the most heavily-taxed countries in the Western world so where does all our money go to if not to us and our country? We need to be seriously challenging our leaders, local and national to explain where all our money goes.There is no lack. There is misappropriation and wrong priorities. All power to these parents, mostly former Labour voters, I believe. But ‘never again’ they were apparently saying at Thursday’s town hall protest.
Barry quite simply the money for the i360 is a loan from the councils own funds, (wether it will ever be paid is another story). Just as the Beryl Bike money comes from transport monies. The money for school funding comes straight from the Government in a dedicated grant which is paid to the LA on the amount of pupils, (weighted on age and SEND requirements etc).
So if we didn’t give the i360 anything or were not paying the quite extortionate Beryl Bikes payment this money would still not go to the schools it is totally different funding.
Everyone who complains about new housing being built: this is your fault.
If homes were cheaper here there would be more families able to have kids, and enough demand to keep the schools open.
But instead Brighton was one of the quickest aging places in the Uk between 2011 and 2022
It would be interesting to understand why the council decided to close St Bartholomew’s school which is rated Good by Ofsted and in which 59% of pupils are meeting the required standard in English and maths instead of for instance a school like Queens Park Primary School which is rated as Need Improvement by Ofsted and in which only 37% of pupils were meeting the required standard in English and maths in 2019 but has probably since fallen. Or why did they drop a form at St Luke’s which is Outstanding and 77% were meeting the required standard in English and maths? There seems to have been no consideration in these decisions based on the expected pupil outcomes at the different schools.
I have to agree shutting St Peter’s school would have a massive effect. I moved my son from St Peter’s to another school due to my daughter going to secondary school in hove so I thought it would be easier with school runs in the morning. I was WRONG I had coved and couldn’t move for a week I had no one to take my son to school as it’s so far away. Yet when he was at St Peter’s I had people all around me to help out if needed. Also he has struggled massively as the classes are so big so is the school. His finding it hard to make friends as none of them are local. I actually want to move my son back as I could walk him to school if there is issues with my car. There is no buses in fishersgate to take you to any of the other schools all the local schools are full. I have to leave at 8am to get my son to school for 8.40 due to the traffic in the mornings and it’s over an hour walk from us. I do have a car I no most the mums at St Peter’s do not drive and have children with SEN. I’m a single mum with 3 children one in school in Shoreham one in school in hove and one was St Peter’s . It’s a complete nightmare. I agree classes should be made smaller in other schools to help fill St Peter’s. Smaller classes means better education so other school would benefit from this aswell. Your also building more flats were I live so surly them children will need a local school with spaces in them that is St Peter’s school only.