Sixtth form closure a done deal

THE closure of Tideway School s sixth form is a foregone conclusion, a parent has claimed.

Friday was the closing date for people to comment on a bid to axe the sixth form and develop Tideway as a specialist technology school for pupils aged 11-16.

With an increasing number of students taking up further education classes in Brighton and Lewes, and the roll at Tideway expected to dwindle further due to the opening of the new Peacehaven Community School, a sixth form at Tideway has been harder to justify.

However, parent Trevor Smart, of Station Road, was alarmed its closure was a 'done deal .

He said: 'The whole consultation process has been incorrectly handled. The school should not be allowed to state it is not accepting new pupils until the whole consultation has been completed. The consequences of pupils and parents being told that the sixth form is closing has resigned some parents into thinking that the closure is fait accompli and that nothing can be done.

Headteacher Adrian Money said he believed the closure was the way forward for Tideway, allowing resources to be channelled into improving the education of 11-16 year olds.

But Mr Smart, one of only two parents who turned up at a recent public meeting to discuss the sixth form closure, was concerned Newhaven s regeneration would suffer as a result, young people leaving the town and the loss of the only sixth form on the coastal strip between Brighton and Seaford.

He added: 'Once it s gone it will not return. In the words of the song, You don t know what you ve got till it s gone.

Seven letters commenting on the possible axeing were sent to East Sussex County Council. Only one was an outright objection, said a council spokesman.

He added: 'The consultation paper sets out in detail the reasons for and against closure at Tideway sixth form, and all views which have been expressed will be taken into account both for and against the proposal.

'Tideway governors understand clearly that they will have to continue to offer sixth form courses if the decision is that the sixth form should not close.