Brighton and Hove: Free school meals increase eligibility for places

Children in Brighton and Hove receiving free school meals are set to have priority for secondary school places over some others living closer.

The move was agreed by the city council's children, families and schools committee after a public consultation.

About 25% of children in the city are eligible for free school meals.

The changes will come into effect from September 2025 and will initially affect council maintained schools.

Children who are or were in care, and those with a compelling medical or other exceptional reason to attend a particular school, will still take priority, the Local Democracy Reporting Service says.

The council's head of school organisation, Richard Barker, said the policy was supported by the education and social mobility charity the Sutton Trust.

The charity said oversubscribed schools with distance-based catchment areas had led to "selective comprehensives" and this would be addressed by the proposal.

Any changes will affect local authority maintained schools in the first instance.

Academies, church schools and free schools are free to set their own admissions policies but, locally, have traditionally worked within the council's framework.

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