We have 14 long years of failure from successive Tory Governments to turn around and in truth some weeks the mountain we are seeking to climb feels steep. Everywhere I look I see the impact of their managed decline and the how it has undermined the public sector and everything we seek to achieve.

This week we have been addressing the consultation regarding the Hove Learning Federation’s proposal to join the Aurora Academy Trust, a Multi- Academy Trust (MAT). Your Labour Council believes joining the academy trust at this time is the wrong decision for the schools in the federation. The proposal from the governing board is significant – it is irreversible and permanently places West Hove Infants School and Hove Junior School under the leadership of trust leaders, not the local governing body.

Both Hove Junior School and West Hove Infants are valued members of our community and have delivered excellent educational opportunities and outcomes for children in our city for many years. We highly rate the staff and leadership at both schools – they are valued colleagues and professionals, and we want them to remain working with us within the maintained school sector.

Academisation of our city’s schools fragments the system and creates a market-led approach to education, which we do not believe is helpful for families or children. It introduces barriers to implementing consistent citywide policies in the interests of all the city’s children. Unlike many other areas in the country, the majority of schools in Brighton and Hove have remained proudly “local authority maintained”, working in partnership with each other and the council in order to best support all children and young people within the city.

Joining a trust does not improve local partnerships nor does it enable more vulnerable pupils to access the support they require. For example our Ethnic Minority Achievement service provides vital support to children who have English as a second language and would potentially be lost if the schools choose to academise. We are committed within the council to drive down educational disadvantage (for example recently introducing the new Free School Meals admissions policy in secondary schools) and MATs do not necessarily have this same commitment.

MATs are less accountable to parents and the community. There is no requirement for MATs to include parent representatives on the ‘local’ governing body of each academy and some MATs have abolished these altogether. The Aurora Trust will not be able to offer more financial support to the Federation than the council. Indeed, significant funds will be taken from the federation to pay for the salaries of the Academy Trust leadership team. We believe funding to support children should be used for that purpose, not top-sliced to pay for executive leadership.

We are seeing an unprecedented reduction in the number of primary-aged children within the city. Joining a trust does not create more children – it does nothing to resolve or help this issue. The reduction of children means schools have a reduction in the finance available. The council has recently taken significant action in addressing this issue, reducing the size of schools and closing schools, working with schools to make the necessary changes to their budgets, exploring different models of collaboration and how we support vulnerable children and those with special educational needs and disabilities. We are also accelerating our housebuilding to ensure we provide more affordable and council homes in the city so that families can stay here.

Should the council have acted earlier? Yes. But 20 years of no overall political control meant a crisis of leadership and vision. Since Labour achieved a large majority in May 2023 this has enabled us to shift gear and lean into our role to manage the city’s education system.

Yet despite Tory government policy to underfund schools and hollow our local authorities, local authority maintained schools continue to thrive. Our outcomes remain consistently above the national average, and we have an excellent track record in ensuring quality.

We are proud of the partnerships that exist within the city. The Hove Learning Federation is part of the Hove Partnership of schools. This partnership has worked effectively for many years and has many strengths, not least the connection between secondary schools and primary schools.

Our new Labour Government has signalled a very different approach to investment in the public sector including on teacher pay, SEND funding and investment in school buildings. Now is not the moment to continue the drift towards academisation.