The big issue in Shoreham at the moment is West Sussex County Council's allocation of secondary school places. Many pupils have not been allocated one of their top three preferred schools.
I have been working with Cllr Kevin Boram and others since the announcement to support parents and meeting everyone involved - from officials and county councillors to the heads of our local schools.
Well done to the Shoreham parents who organised such an excellent, well-attended meeting at the Shoreham Centre to discuss the problem over secondary school place allocation for Shoreham pupils. Well done also to the excellent heads of our local schools Jim Coupe from Shoreham Academy, Kieron Scanlon from Sir Robert Woodard Academy and Mia Lowney from St Andrews who gave great presentations on behalf of their schools.
We have offered to work with local parents who are going through the appeals process but would also urge parents to visit St Andrews to see what exactly is on offer there under the very impressive leadership of Mia Lowney who is turning things round very rapidly. It is in everyone’s interests that she succeeds just as Kieron Scanlon did 5 years ago when Sir Robert Woodard Academy was out of sorts with a lot of vacancies yet now parents report how pleased they were that they trusted his pitch and how well it had worked out for their children and the school.
We are also working with the Leader of the County Council to come up with a longer-term solution to the shortage of secondary school places in Adur, which was not the case 5 years ago, but which is certainly going to get worse as all the new build now brings new families to Shoreham and Lancing. There were tentative plans to expand SWRA and/or Shoreham Academy perhaps on their other site in Middle Road which housed the Kings Manor Middle School until the 1990’s, and these need to be dusted down and revisited.
We need a proper, sustainable strategy for our secondary schools so there are no more unwelcome surprises in the future and that is what we are working on.
If you have been affected by the school place allocation this year please contact me - [email protected] - and I will do everything I can to help.
