Schools Adjudicator rejects majority of objections regarding school admissions arrangements

The Office of the Schools Adjudicator has now reached a decision on a number of objections to our school admission arrangements for 2026/27.  

The majority of the objections were not upheld including the objections against the amended catchment area boundary for Dorothy Stringer, Varndean and Longhill; setting the Free School Meals priority at 30%; the introduction of a 5% ‘open admissions’ oversubscription priority giving applicants from single catchment areas a priority when applying to schools in dual catchment areas; and the consultation process in advance of the council’s decision. 

These arrangements will all remain as agreed by councillors in February. 

In the Schools Adjudicator’s decision, it stated: “I did not find the arrangements to be unreasonable [...] Neither did I find there to be any unfairness or that that the Arrangements would be indirectly discriminatory [...] I find that the consultation process met the requirements as set out in the Code and the four Gunning Principles.” 

The only objections to be upheld relate to the Published Admission Numbers for Blatchington Mill and Dorothy Stringer. The adjudicator has decided that we must increase the Published Admission Numbers (PANs) from the planned 300 back up to 330 at both Blatchington Mill and Dorothy Stringer Schools for 2026/27. 

While the adjudicator agreed that the council is taking entirely appropriate action to reduce the surplus school places and prepare schools for the reduction in number of children, in particular to protect the financial position of its community secondary schools in the medium to long term, the adjudicator felt the current demand for places at the 2 schools made this change premature for 2026/27. 

Next steps 

We will look at the decision in detail over the next few days and update the information on our admissions arrangements as soon as possible.  

You can update and amend any applications for secondary school places for 2026/27 until the 31 October closing date.   

Councillor Jacob Taylor, Deputy Leader of the Council, said: “Our admission arrangements were carefully considered to allow us to build a better future for children and young people in Brighton & Hove, by tackling inequality, creating greater equity of opportunity and improving educational outcomes for all young people in the city.  

“We are pleased that the adjudicator agreed that changes to our secondary school admissions arrangements were consistent with the School Admissions Code. 

“School places and the education of our children is a deeply personal, and sometimes emotional subject for families. We must acknowledge that some families will be pleased and excited, while others will be upset and disappointed at these decisions.  

“As a council, we try to balance the views and concerns of all parents, while taking forward policies that we think are fair and in the best interest of children in the city. 

“We’ll be looking at the adjudicator’s decision closely in the coming days and clarifying our admissions arrangements accordingly. We will contact all parents and carers that have already submitted secondary school applications for 2026/27 to explain these changes.”