UNIONS have criticised plans for a new secondary school in Brighton and Hove.

Parents and carers of children in Years 2 and 3 in Brighton schools are being consulted after the University of Brighton stepped forward as a sponsor of a new free school.

But the National Union of Teachers and the University and Colleges Union have criticised the plans for the school, which would not have to stick to the national curriculum.

Brighton and Hove City Council have backed the plans and it will now be up to them and the university to decide where the school will be located but no sites have yet been earmarked.

Brochures are being distributed to headteachers and governors with a request that they be passed to parents and carers of children who will be due to start Year 7 in September 2018 or 2019.

Paul Griffiths, chief executive of the University of Brighton Academies Trust, said: “This is an important development, which will help to meet the future educational needs of the children of Brighton.

“With the support of the local council we aim to provide a new, state-of-the-art learning environment and create the conditions that will support high attainment and enable our young people to achieve their full potential.”

Brighton and Hove has a pressing need for a new school to meet the predicted 300 extra 11 to 16-year-olds pupils in the next few years.

The University of Brighton was approached by the council to submit a proposal to sponsor such a school, through the University of Brighton Academies Trust.

The council’s director of children’s services, Pinaki Ghoshal, said: “We very much support the university’s plan to create a new secondary school in the city and are delighted to be working jointly with them on this project.”

The unions said in a statement: “Unfortunately, the council debate and the University of Brighton statements leave a lot of questions unanswered.

“The University of Brighton University and Colleges Union and the National Union of Teachers in Brighton and Hove, believe that any expanded secondary provision within Brighton and Hove should be within local democratic control, and that the proposal of a free school should be the subject of full and wide-ranging consultation with all stakeholders to enable these, and other questions, to be answered.”

FACTFILE

What exactly are free schools? 

According to the government website, free schools are funded by the government but aren’t run by the local council.

Free schools have more control over how they do things.

They are seen as ‘all-ability’ schools, so can’t use academic selection processes like a grammar school.

They set their own pay and conditions for staff

They can change the length of school terms and the school day

They don’t have to follow the national curriculum.