Brighton Primary Heads Walk Out Of Meeting With Senior Council Officers

Primary school head teachers walked out of a meeting with senior council officers who have proposed joining schools together into “federations”.

The aim would be to share senior roles, some specialist and support staff as well as governor positions as the number of children falls and financial deficits grow. Some jobs could go.

The timetable has left some heads and governors concerned that Brighton and Hove City Council is trying to rush them into decisions that might preclude them from joining an academy trust instead.

More than 40 primary heads walked out of the meeting called by Brighton and Hove City Council last week as officials prepared to start a consultation.

They later sent a joint statement to the council, saying:

“We understand that to do nothing is not an option.

“However, we cannot respond to this proposal because it is not a clear and coherent plan.

“We have heard your message and we will use the next year to investigate all options available.

“The professional standards that we have all signed up to mean that any structural change to the running of our schools must be subject to due diligence.

“As such we cannot rush a momentous decision. Therefore, we cannot commit to a yes or no decision at this stage.”

Their comments echo remarks by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator which recognised a need for urgent action but warned the council against making hasty decisions.

The council shared its initial proposal with heads and chair of governors at a meeting at the cricket ground, in Eaton Road, Hove, on Monday 10 June.

It followed up with a further meeting last week led by council education bosses Jo Lyons and Richard Barker – the meeting at which head teachers walked out.

And on Friday (June 28) the council published a consultation document as councillors and officials wrestle with falling rolls and worsening finances.

Some schools locally have already been forced to become academies while others have chosen to join “multi-academy trusts”.

The council has been keen to keep as many local state schools as possible within the local authority family of schools. Among the benefits are that costs for specialist services such as human resources (HR) can be shared more widely.

Currently, half of the local authority maintained schools in Brighton and Hove are in the red and, with fewer children living in the area, primary schools have hundreds of empty classroom places.

Funding is based on the number of pupils – and budgets are getting tighter with fewer than 2,000 children expected to start school in September 2025 and 2026.

In response, 300 reception class places have been cut collectively across Brighton and Hove from September and the council has decided to close two primaries.

St Peter’s, Portslade, is due to close this summer and, after an appeal, St Bartholomew’s, in Brighton, is now due to close at the end of December.

The appeal decision was published last month by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator. The decision letter said that the council had an urgent need to reduce places – but warned against making hasty decisions which would affect vulnerable young children.

Jo Lyons, the council’s assistant director for families, children and learning, said that the timing and speed of the proposals would be “challenging” in a letter to heads and chairs of governors.

She asked schools to let the council know if they wished to engage with the federation process by Tuesday, July 23. Some fear that an early indication could limit their schools’ options.

She said:

“We acknowledge the pressure of the proposed timescales and the concerns they have raised.

“We want to clarify that this is the beginning of a conversation. Nothing has been confirmed.

“We want all schools to contribute to the discussion about the future as we have a great opportunity to shape something new and innovative together in the face of the city’s challenging situation.

“We recognise the pressure for swift action but we also need to get this right which creates a tension.

“We have listened to your concerns and understand the initial proposed timescales are not realistic for all schools or for widespread systemic change.

“A phased approach is more likely to be practical.

“We will be supporting early adopters to progress the initiative and hope to work with everyone to develop pathways and timelines towards implementing the proposal.”

The leader of the council’s Conservative group, Alistair McNair, said that it was disappointing to see the council pushing for federation.

Councillor McNair said:

“It means job losses. You cannot meddle with the structure of schools without risking severe harm to our children’s education.

“Labour want hard-pressed schools who manage their budgets to suffer more staff shortages to cover their own budget mismanagement.

“Labour broke their promise not to close schools – now they are threatening schools.

“It is true that many schools are in deficit and have been badly managed by the local authority over many years.

“On the other hand, many schools do manage their budgets and their education extremely well.”

The council said that the financial situation was challenging and many schools were facing large deficit budgets.

At this time last year, the council asked schools to reduce their deficits by 10 per cent.

The council said:

“The council is pursuing a number of courses of action to tackle this issue including increasing the direct support we provide to schools to help them with budget management.

“We are also exploring a possible federation model which could see schools joining together to share resources and talent and therefore potentially saving money and making our school system more resilient.

“We understand any such proposal would be a big change for schools which is why we have sought to proactively engage head teachers and chairs of governors to develop the plan.”

The council added that “a number of head teachers chose not to meet with council officers … for further discussions around this”.

But it said: “A survey has now been circulated for completion and we hope they continue to work with us in a constructive way.”