Decision - School Admission Arrangements 2027-28

Brighton and Hove Cabinet Decided 13 Nov 2025 approved GET /api/coverage

Decision maker

Cabinet

Report author

Richard Barker

Published

13 Nov 2025

Reference

7531

As published

the council's own words, unedited

This report seeks permission to consult on school admission arrangements for 2027-28

1) Cabinet agree to make no changes to the council's admission arrangements other than the changes listed below. 2) Cabinet agree to consult upon a change to the admission priorities for secondary schools to enable the sibling link to be applied regardless of the catchment area where families live. 3) Cabinet agree to consult upon a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) of Rudyard Kipling Primary School from 45 to 30 pupils. 4) Cabinet agree to consult upon a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) of Downs Junior School from 128 to 96 pupils to reflect changes previously made at Downs Infant School. 5) Cabinet agree to consult upon a change to the way waiting lists are operated. 6) Cabinet agree to consult on the Primary and Secondary coordinated schemes and to make no changes to the "relevant area".

Parsed from the document

gpt-5.6-luna-2026-07-09 · 5388/1631 tokens · 12210ms · parsed 8 Sep 2026 11:42

Everything below was read out of a PDF by a model It is useful and it is not authoritative. The document it came from is linked in the rail, and where the two disagree the document is right.

Brighton & Hove City Council proposed consulting on school admission arrangements for 2027-28, including wider sibling priority for secondary schools, changes to waiting lists and reallocation pools, and reductions in admission numbers at Rudyard Kipling Primary School and Downs Junior School. The consultation is proposed to run from 14 November 2025 to 9 January 2026, with final arrangements to be considered by Full Council.

Recommendation

Cabinet agree to make no changes to the council’s admission arrangements other than consulting on: applying the secondary-school sibling link regardless of catchment area; reducing the Published Admission Number at Rudyard Kipling Primary School from 45 to 30; reducing the Published Admission Number at Downs Junior School from 128 to 96; changing the operation of waiting lists and reallocation pools; and the Primary and Secondary coordinated admission schemes, with no change to the relevant area.

Financial impact

No specific budget amount stated; the proposed reductions in Published Admission Numbers are intended to improve school financial sustainability by reducing surplus places and aligning future budgets with pupil numbers.

Ward affected

city-wide

Decision maker

Cabinet

Date in document

13 Nov 2025

Stakeholders named

parsed

Parents and families applying for school placesPupils and siblingsRudyard Kipling Primary SchoolDowns Junior SchoolDowns Infant SchoolCommunity schools and governing boardsOther admission authoritiesNeighbouring local authoritiesSchools AdjudicatorFamilies with protected characteristicsBrighton & Hove City Council school admissions team

Next steps

parsed

Start the public consultation on 14 November 2025.
Run the consultation for eight weeks until 9 January 2026, including four online and in-person engagement events.
Consider consultation responses and present a further report to Full Council on 29 January 2026.
Determine the 2027-28 admission arrangements by 28 February 2026.
Prepare an Equality Impact Assessment after the consultation and before the final recommendation.

Precedents

not built

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