Impact by area:
Rottingdean/Saltdean/Woodingdean
The Schools Admissions Review proposal controversially adopted on 2nd Feb creates a single catchment area for Longhill, which includes the traditional feeder schools of Woodingdean, Rottingdean, Saltdean and Ovingdean and tacks on the Whitehawk Estate.
Parents in these areas have not been involved in the consultation process for the review and many of us only heard about the proposals at the last minute when we were advised it was “too late”. At a hastily convened meeting at one of the feeder schools, Gil Sweetenam from the City Council advised us that Longhill would continue to grow in size to accommodate the new catchment area, but that no new funds had been identified to facilitate this.
Longhill School had informed the CF&S panel that there is no scope for enlarging the school.
Longhill already has the highest number of pupils from the most deprived areas in the city and the highest number of exclusions.
There appears to be no strategy formulated by the City Council to assess the impact of the new catchment area on the school nor how to finance and manage this.
The single catchment area locks children in to one school and creates the right conditions for the school’s failure. Longhill is already overcrowded and struggling to deal with behavioural problems. The proposed catchment area will inevitably entail oversubscription and children being put into the “ballot”.
It is clear that the closure of East Brighton College of Media & Arts is the single causative factor in the current debate, resulting in the oversubscription of the most popular schools.
This group intends to contact parents from all of the feeder schools in the proposed catchment area to gain their views. Parents in Whitehawk, Woodingdean, Rottingdean, Satldean and Ovingdean are encouraged to contact us on tcrichardson75@btinternet.com
Our priorities are;
- To support Longhill School and press for a fair funding deal
- To forge strong links with parents in all the feeder schools
- To urge the council to create a new school for the city centre