The council has opened a public consultation on the closure of a specialist school.

Homewood College, a small specialist school for pupils aged 11-16 with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs, has been in special measures since December 2021 after Ofsted rated it “inadequate”.

Despite efforts from school staff and Brighton and Hove City Council, the school is set to close and has stopped admissions for the 2024/25 academic year due to its continued poor standards.

A public consultation has now been opened as the council wants to hear people’s views on the proposed closure.

The school in Queensdown School Road, Brighton, suffered from “stubbornly poor” attendance and high staff turnover. It had “unsettled the school community”, an Ofsted report found.

The proposal to close the school is part of a range of changes to improve the educational offer to current pupils for the remainder of their schooling, Brighton and Hove City Council has said.

Since the announcement, the council has been working alongside parents and carers to find appropriate provisions.

The consultation will be open until September 5 and will feature an online consultation event on Monday, July 15, via Teams.

An in-person consultation event will also be held at Homewood College on Wednesday, July 17, at 6pm.

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Council deputy leader Jacob Taylor said: “Our priority duty is to make sure we’re providing the best possible education to meet the identified social, emotional and mental health needs of all pupils.

“While proposing to close a school is a difficult decision, this is part of the work to improve the educational offer for pupils with SEMH  (Social Emotional and Mental Health needs) in the city, and follows the decision this year to stop placements at the school.

“Since then, we’ve been working to find alternative placements for pupils and have extra support in place to make that change as smooth as possible.

“There has been a lot of hard work by staff at the school and the council to try to overcome the difficulties Homewood College faces. We are very sorry that the school has not been able to make the improvement needed.

“We do welcome your comments on the proposals, so please share your views through our online survey or at either of the consultation events.”