Pleas Heard To Stop School Closures In Brighton And Hove

Parents in Brighton and Hove have pleaded with councillors to think again about proposals to close two of the city's primary schools.

Thousands of people had earlier 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 on 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 this coming 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.