Protestors Gather At Hove Town Hall As Councillors Discuss Closure Of Two Brighton Schools

Parents and supporters gathered outside Hove Town Hall yesterday (January 22) to protest against the closure of two schools from the end of August because of falling numbers.

The schools are St Bartholomew’s CofE Primary School in Brighton and St Peter’s Community Primary and Nursery School in Portslade.

Brighton and Hove City Council is looking to make the closures as it aims to reduce the number of surplus empty places in primary and infant schools.

Papers released ahead of the Children, Families and Schools Committee show people who responded to the six-week public consultation disagreed with the proposals to close the city’s two smallest schools.

There were 327 responses to the consultation into closing St Bartholomew’s CofE School in Ann Street, Brighton, with 273 or 83.5 per cent strongly disagreeing with the proposals to close the school.

For St Peter’s Community School (below) in St Peter’s Road, Portslade, there were 313 responses to the consultation, with 265 or 85 per cent strongly disagreeing with the school closure plans.

The committee met yesterday (Monday, January 22) with councillors being asked to give statutory notice of closure, which will trigger a four-week period starting the next day until Tuesday, February 20, when interested parties an comment.

A further report will go to a special meeting of the Children, Families and Schools Committee on Thursday, February 29 with a final decision by a special full council meeting on Monday, March 4.

The report to the January committee said there were a total of 467 responders to the consultation for both schools.

The majority, 286, strongly disagreed with the council reducing the number of surplus school places in the city.

Responders raised concerns the council’s approach was “short term” and questioned the accuracy of the pupil forecasts.

The report said responders said children would benefit from smaller class sizes.

Concerns were also raised about the alternative options. Families served by St Bartholomew’s want to ensure their children attend a Church of England school.

The reasons given for closing St Bartholomew’s (below) is it has the second lowest number of pupils on the roll, with 135 pupil out of a possible 210 places. The school is also £205,000 in the red.

Responders for St Peter’s had particular concerns about alternative nursery places for children with siblings in other year groups, which is a particular issues for families who live in West Sussex.

There was also scepticism about the availability of alternative places in the Portslade area.

The reasons given for choosing to close the school is St Peter’s has the lowest number of children in reception to year six out of all primary schools in Brighton and Hove, with 69 pupils on the roll as of January 8.

There are also 27 children in the nursery. The report recognises parents have removed their children during the consultation process.

The school is also £203,000 in the red.

The Children, Families and Schools Committee was due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm yesterday.

Updates to follow.