Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton LIVE IN THE SHADED ZONE? You now have no choice of secondary school Queens park Race course Hanover

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton Introductions Queens Park School - Rosemary Collins, Chair of Governors David Hawker, Director of Educational Services Pat Hawkes, chair of the council’s children, families and schools committee (CFS) Cause 4eb - Gordon, Paul, Matt, and many more….. Thanks to everyone for attending If you’d like to stay informed, please provide details

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton Cause4eb Presentation: 1. The old secondary school admissions criteria 2. What was changed & why 3. The process of change - Scrutiny Review 4. The process of change - Public Consultation 5. The consequences this year 6. What about next year? 7. The council gets it wrong - we pay the price 8. Sort it out now!

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton 1. The old secondary school admissions criteria Secondary schools - oversubscribed - old criteria: 1st - Strong medical / exceptional reasons 2nd - Sibling link 3rd - Children living in a priority area drawn on the map around the school each year

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton 2. What was changed & why: The 3rd criterion of priority area replaced with ‘home to school safe walking distance’ Claimed that new criterion better complied with the government’s Code of Practice - requires admissions criteria to be ‘clear, fair and objective’

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton 3. How the change in policy was brought about - Scrutiny Review council set up Scrutiny Review Panel to investigate admissions policy options The Review Panel made a number of sensible recommendations about future admissions criteria - including keeping priority areas These recommendations were largely ignored by the council

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton 4. How the change in policy was brought about - Public Consultation Following Scrutiny Review, council conducted a ’wide ranging’ public consultation Poorly conceived, badly distributed leaflet offered limited range of options for change Under 1% of parents responded (only 185, compared to 750+ parents signing Cause4eb petition) Of this tiny %, majority did not want the 3rd criterion changed to ‘home to school distance’

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton 5. The consequences this year You now have no choice of secondary school Queens park Race course Hanover

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton 6. What about next year? Review of admissions policy; not a response; it is a requirement of the policy change process Findings will only affect children starting in September 2007 earliest; 2002 review failed to report in time for 2004 intake, so year 4 children could suffer No parental representation on review working group; no explicit commitment to address EB issues so far Year 5 will endure unfair and discriminatory system; The exclusion zone is likely to be even bigger next year

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton 7. Council gets it wrong - we pay the price 750+ concerned parents signed our petition demanding that the policy is changed urgently Constituency MPs Des Turner, David Lepper argue that new system may contravene European Human Rights legislation as it is so discriminatory Local councillors argue ‘that the new policy has been shown to be inequitable’ and demand that it is looked into urgently David Hawker admits that the new system is ‘unfair’

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton 8. Sort it out now! We have proposed short term solutions ahead of the forthcoming review: review school admissions numbers/set up additional classes in popular schools - rejected by council consider ‘binodal’ system modification to current policy - rejected by council open dialogue with council, schools etc.. to seek other short term solutions - no response to date Clear perception that the council lacks the will to seek short term solutions to the problem it has made

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton LIVE IN THE SHADED ZONE? You now have no choice of secondary school Queens park Race course Hanover

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton Next steps - questions to council representatives And don’t forget….. You have a voice - write, , call Our website - Thanks to QP school If you’d like to stay informed, please provide details

Cause4eb.co.uk Campaign Against Unfair Secondary Education 4 East Brighton LIVE IN THE SHADED ZONE? You now have no choice of secondary school Queens park Race course Hanover