Schools plan may leave 200 pupils without places

Proposed changes to Brighton and Hove secondary admissions may leave more than 200 children without a place at their catchment area school.

The figures come from a report to Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet which is due to meet on 5 December, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Up to 125 youngsters in the Dorothy Stringer and Varndean catchment could miss out on a place at their local school, along with 57 children in the Hove Park and Blatchington Mill catchment and 44 in Patcham.

A proposed new admission policy for September 2026 would give more choice to children in a catchment area, with just one school such as the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) and Longhill.

The report said: “In some instances, there will not be places available under the categories due to the current profile of the pupils in the catchment area.

“As under the current arrangements, it is possible that a pupil may not receive a place in a catchment area school as it is subject to the pattern of preferences made across the city.

“The introduction of new priorities does not reduce the likelihood of this happening. It is most likely going to increase the potential of this happening in certain areas of the city over the coming years.”

The council carried out a three-week public engagement exercise before the cabinet report was drafted.

More than 2,400 people responded, with more than half of them against reducing admissions to the most popular schools and the two most far-reaching options to change catchment areas.

Parent Adam Dennett, a professor of urban analytics, said that one irony that could come from the proposed admission changes, that would bring Whitehawk and the Manor Farm estate into the Stringer and Varndean catchment, was that these children could yet miss out on a place at those schools.

He said: “The council appears bent on forcing vast numbers of the city’s children to attend schools out of their catchment and a long way from their homes, with no care for the impact on those children and their learning."

At a meeting scheduled for 5 December, the cabinet is being asked to approve an eight-week public consultation, starting 6 December.

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