Hundreds of reception class places empty at Brighton and Hove schools
Almost 400 places were unfilled at the start of the new school year
Hundreds of reception class places were empty across Brighton and Hove at the start of the new school year.
Green councillor Sue Shanks asked for the figures for filled places rather than unfilled places for this year’s September intake at a Brighton and Hove City Council committee meeting today (Monday 11 September).
At the council’s Children, Families and Learning Committee meeting she asked what steps the council was taking to “ensure efficiency across primary schools” before next September for the 2024-25 school year.
In recent years, the council has cut admissions at larger schools across Brighton and Hove as pupil numbers keep falling.
Councillors were told that the problem was linked with falling birthrates nationally, with a nationwide drop of 6 per cent over the past decade.
Census data showed that in Brighton and Hove though the number of four-year-olds starting school had fallen by 22 per cent.
Labour councillor Lucy Helliwell, who co-chairs the Children, Families and Learning Committee, said that there were 369 unfilled places in reception classes across Brighton and Hove this September.
This equated to 14 per cent of the total available places, she said.
She said that she could not say how many places had been filled this year until the school census had taken place in October.
The results should be made available by January when the committee is due to discuss admission arrangements for September 2025.
A proposal is expected to be presented to the committee in November and to be the subject of a consultation.
Councillor Helliwell said: “We will continue to liaise with schools on the number of primary places available next September to avoid excessive amounts of unfilled places.
“For example, a variation to a school’s published admission number might be made so they take in a reduced maximum number of children.”
Councillor Shanks asked if schools could close.
Councillor Helliwell did not say yes or no but said that she and her co-chair, Councillor Jacob Taylor, were talking with governors and head teachers about ways to tackle surplus spaces.