Adur Council’s Labour Group has called on West Sussex County Council to provide funding so that temporary classrooms can be installed to allow more children to go to a secondary school in their local area.
The group says it is deeply disappointing that, from Bognor to Shoreham, 189 families with children have not been offered any of their three choices of secondary school. This is made worse by the number of children who have been offered places outside their local area.
Thirty-nine families in Adur have been offered none of their preferred three schools.
The group welcomes the work being done by the schools and the West Sussex County Council admissions team to handle the oversubscription issue. St Andrews School in Worthing, which will be accepting a number of pupils from Shoreham, are doing guided tours for parents and pupils. This will allow them to see what a positive and nurturing environment the school offers.
The problem is a symptom of government underfunding of the school system since 2010 and a failure of planning.
A statement by WSCC representatives that they will work to invest in Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing to allow an expansion to 300 youngsters in each year is welcome news for those pupils seeking a space in Year 7 for Sept 2024. This work was due to take place for 2023 and WSCC failed to fund, we are therefore seeking answers.
2024 is too late to help parents and children this year.
Adur Labour Group request that Section106 infrastructure money, financial contributions from developers, must be secured immediately from the county council’s schools pot to install temporary classrooms for Sir Robert Woodard Academy for the coming academic year, 23/24 year.
This situation is no “bolt out of the blue”. It speaks more to “closing the door after the horse has bolted”.
The likelihood of this year’s problem was identified in 2017 by the Adur parent lobbying group FAST. Their analysis was shared with MP Tim Loughton and county councillors.
At a County Liaison Committee meeting in November 2021, parents presented information from the county council itself that there would be a shortage of secondary school places in Adur. Parents were reassured that there was no significant issue and told that there was sufficient capacity within Adur schools.