Subject:

School Places for Catchment Children - Petition for Debate

Date of Meeting:

25 March 2021

Report of:

Executive Lead Officer for Strategy, Governance & Law

Contact Officer:

Name:

Mark Wall

Tel:

01273 291006

 

E-mail:

mark.wall@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Wards Affected:

 

All

 

For General Release

 

 

1.      SUMMARY AND POLICY CONTEXT:

 

1.1      Under the Council’s Petition Scheme if a petition contains more than 1,250 signatures and is not petition requesting officer evidence, it will be debated by the Full Council.

 

1.2      The e-petition has resulted in triggering a debate at the council meeting, having exceeded the threshold with a total of 2,402 signatures confirmed at the time of printing the report.

 

2.      RECOMMENDATIONS:

 

2.1      That the petition is noted.

 

3.       RELEVANT BACKGROUND INFORMATION / CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS:

         

3.1      The Petition:

         

School Places for Catchment Area Children

 

Lead petitioner Amy Hyland

 

We the undersigned petition Brighton & Hove Council to review the number of secondary school places available at Dorothy Stringer and Varndean School for the September 2021 intake.

 

Justification:

 

There are 62 children in the Dorothy Stringer/Varndean catchment area who couldn't be offered a catchment area school this year. These children have already missed many months of school and contact with their friends over the past twelve months. The impact of the pandemic and a national lockdown has been huge. Their emotional resilience is at a low. Instead of being able to look forward to the next stage in their education with , they are now having to contend with extreme disappointment and anxiety, as they have been offered places far from their homes and their local community.

 

In previous years, Dorothy Stringer and Varndean have taken additional students to reduce the impact of students being deprived of local school places. It seems that this year, neither school is being asked to provide any additional capacity. Indeed, capacity at Dorothy Stringer has been reduced by 30 spaces. This is despite the fact that in 2018, the Council decided not to go ahead with plans for a new secondary school on the basis of additional capacity being provided by existing schools, notably Dorothy Stringer and Varndean School, with funding being freed up to support this.

 

The council’s data would have shown that there would be additional demand for secondary school places for September 2021. As a consequence of reducing the school spaces available, children are not able to go on to attend a secondary school in an area they have grown up and where they are part of their local community. There is a ripple effect of this reduced intake which is negatively impacting on families in other catchments areas too.

We call on the Council to review the places available at Dorothy Stringer and Varndean School.


Children have suffered enough over the past year, the Council cannot champion the importance of young people’s mental health and well-being and then deprive this group of the opportunity to attend a local school for this next significant chapter of their lives.

         

4.      PROCEDURE:

 

4.1      The petition will be debated at the Council meeting in accordance with the agreed protocol:

         

(i)        The Lead petitioner will be invited by the Mayor to present the petition and will have up to 3 minutes in which to outline the prayer of the petition and confirm the number of signatures;

 

(ii)       The Mayor will then open the matter up for debate by councillors for period of 15 minutes and will first call on the relevant Committee Chair to respond to the petition and move a proposed response.  The Mayor will then call on those councillors who have indicated a desire to speak in the matter, before calling on the relevant Committee Chair to respond to the debate;

 

(iii)      An amendment to the recommendation in paragraph 2.1 of the report or to add additional recommendations should be submitted by 10.00am on the day of the meeting; otherwise it will be subject to the Mayor’s discretion as to being appropriate.  Any such amendment will need to be formally moved and seconded at the meeting;

 

(iv)      After the 15 minutes set aside for the debate, the Mayor will then formally put:

 

(a) Any amendments in the order in which they are moved, and


(b) The substantive recommendation(s) as amended (if amended).