Class Divide: 'Working class children are being let down'

Just one in three children in Whitehawk, Manor Farm and Bristol Estate, in Brighton, are leaving school with basic GCSE grades in English and Maths.

Class Divide believes working class children are being discriminated against and are losing out through no fault of their own as their families are “struggling to make ends-meet”.

They are calling for the authorities to better understand the issues facing the working class community.

Dr Carlie Goldsmith, a research fellow at the University of Sussex, said: “These kids are talented and aspirational and it’s criminal this is not being realised and that potential fulfilled.

“They are being let down by the system, discriminated against because they are working class.

“It is unconscionable for children from less privileged backgrounds to be let down by the system so brutally.

“Measures must be put in place quickly to address this.

“We resoundly reject the idea that this is the fault of parents or that our children are not as talented or capable as others in the city.

“Our research, together with the broader existing research, shows this to be convenient nonsense.”

The campaign was launched after research found 37 per cent of young people from the areas were achieving basic grades at GCSE English and Maths.

The group say those children are leaving school at a “serious disadvantage” to the citywide average of 69 per cent.

'It's criminal these children are being let down,' says Dr Goldsmith

Grades across the city have seen improvement in recent years.

However, the gap between the children in East Brighton, compared with children in other areas has remained “stubbornly persistent".

Dr Goldsmith said: “When we start to talk to people about it, people are like ‘well you know, parents lack aspiration, people aren’t committed to schooling.

“Being from the area, and working with lots of children and families, I can say that parents do want their kids to do well, they are committed to doing all they can, often in the most difficult circumstances.”

The demands

Class Divide, which is politically independent, is calling on Brighton and Hove City Council to meet its five demands. The group believe the demands will help tackle the reasons behind why the children are being "left behind".

1. Face the problem:

Ensure the local authority produces an annual report on the school outcomes and attainment of children living Whitehawk, Bristol Estate and Manor Farm that is presented to the children, young people and skills committee and shared with the community and online.

2. Address the issues:

Ensure the local authority publishes a plan that specifically addresses what actions will be taken to reduce the identified educational inequalities experienced by children, young people and adults in our area. This should include closing gaps in attainment, exclusion, access to learning across the life-course, and levels of financial investment. This plan will be subject to annual review with updates circulated to the community.

3. Find a solution:

Make training on the experiences of working class children in education compulsory for all school leaders and teachers in Brighton and Hove.

4. Improve the response:

Reduce the rate of school exclusions and the placement of our children in alternative schools to the Brighton and Hove average, with a plan for further reduction by moving away from punishment approaches to behaviour management towards models informed by an understanding of the social and emotional development of children.

5. Offer ongoing support:

Give local people a second chance by providing local learning and training opportunities and develop advocacy support for parents struggling to keep their children in school.

The council said it is working on plans to tackle disadvantage in the city, which will be presented to the children, young people and skills Committee this year.

'I support the demands - and they could go further'

MP for Brighton Kemptown,Lloyd Russell-Moyle said he supports the group’s demands – and thinks they do not go far enough.

The Labour MP believes that secondary school catchment areas need to be redrawn and made more fair.

He also argues that authorities need to think about how working class children can be given experiences, which more well-off families enjoy.

He said: “We all need to keep pushing for better education outcomes in the area. Part of the problem is the secondary provision in the area, something that the last Labour council which I was part of wanted to resolve with a brand new site at the current Brighton General Site.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle supports the Class Divide campaign

“We would have re-drawn the catchment boundaries so that all schools in the city had an equal amount of free school meals and deprivation and there would have been a school that local children could walk to, stay late at easily and take part in after school provision.

“Unfortunately middle-class parents from the rest of the city fought with the head teachers from the most privileged schools in the city to stop that proposal and it was ditched to my disappointment in 2017 when I stopped being a councillor for the area.

“The key is also the experiences of children when they are not in school, the wider activities of children before and during primary school including early years, play activities, youth work, these things are often paid for by more affluent communities.

“We need to restore a free at the point of use play service and youth work service and finally we need to provide a decent level of opportunity of experiences for children in Whitehawk and surrounding areas, opportunities to visit the sea side, to go on holidays, to look at museums.

“Children might enjoy doing these things, but sometimes they might not, they might need to be forced because the gain is months if not years later.”

'I just want the best for my children'

PEOPLE who grew up in parts of East Brighton have shared their school experiences.

Aaron McBride, 40, went to Stanley Deason – a secondary school put into special measures in 1996, when the percentage of A*-Cs at GCSE reached 13 per cent.

He said: “I enjoyed school and got on well with my teachers but they were struggling and in my final three years eighty percent of my lessons were done by supply teachers and that was really disruptive.

“You’d have a teacher for a week and not know if you were going to see them the next. It made it hard to really get to know them and trust them and it was really hard for them to teach us - they never knew where we were up to or what we were doing.”

Aaron feels this had a big impact on him which lasted into adulthood.

“I was good at school and my parents put a lot of pressure on me to do well but the whole situation meant I didn’t feel prepared to do my exams and my grades were much lower than I expected.

“I tried to go to college but getting low grades had a big impact on my confidence and looking back now I think this is one of the reasons why I didn’t stay.

“Like a lot of my mates I went on to get a trade and I’m lucky I’ve got a skill.

“When I was younger I did think about being a primary school teacher and I do wonder if that’s something I might have done if the education I had was better. I’m a dad now and I think things need to change for this next generation of kids.”

Lacie May Snow, 25, is a mum of two and a health care assistant.

She said her experiences affected her after she left school and now wants better for her children.

She said: “Whitehawk kids weren’t expected to do well at school. I think some people, including some teachers, didn’t think we’d end up doing much with our lives and so didn’t really bother with us much, or push us.

“I didn’t get any advice about going to college or careers but with help from my family I was able to do enough to get a job in the NHS. If I didn’t have that support I’m not sure where I would be.

“I’ve got two little ones and my oldest starts nursery locally soon. I want them both to have better opportunities than what I did.”