Councillors agree to consolidate Hove Park School onto a single site

A positive step to move Hove Park School on to a single site was agreed by councillors at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday 16 July.  

The school currently operates across 2 sites, with Year 7 and 8 pupils studying at Valley Campus before moving to Nevill Campus in Year 9. From September 2028, all operations will be consolidated onto the Nevill Campus site.  

Bringing pupils together on one site will allow for a significantly improved offer for children with special educational needs, with purpose-designed facilities, quiet rooms and sensory spaces that better meet pupils' needs than the current split-site arrangement allows.  

With the whole school working from a single, well-resourced campus this will give pupils continuity of teaching, pastoral support and friendships across their whole secondary education, rather than moving to a separate campus site partway through. 

It will also allow staff to collaborate more closely on the curriculum and provide better support to pupils.  

Improving educational outcomes 

Councillor Jacob Taylor, Deputy Leader of the Council, said: “We know that pupils, parents and carers and the wider community feel passionate about Hove Park School.  

“We’d like to thank everyone who shared their thoughts with us throughout the consultation, at our engagement events and during the Statutory Notice period. Your feedback has been carefully considered and helped inform our decision-making process. 

“Consolidating the school onto a single site will allow us to improve educational outcomes for pupils at Hove Park School while maintaining its distinctive culture and ethos and boosting operational efficiency.  

“Importantly, this change will also help to support Hove Park School’s longer-term financial sustainability and ensure that the local community can continue to benefit from the school for many more years to come.”  

Financial and educational sustainability 

This change forms part of our wider School Sustainability Strategy, which aims to make the best use of the city's school estate, address surplus capacity and ensure schools are financially and educationally sustainable. 

Moving to a single site will help address declining pupil numbers at Hove Park School, following reductions to its Published Admission Number (PAN) – the maximum number of students it can take per year – from 300 to 180.   

Engagement 

From Monday 13 April to Monday 25 May 2026, we held a consultation on the Your Voice platform with parents, carers, staff, governors and the wider community on the proposal to discontinue use of Valley Campus. We also held 3 engagement events over the period.  

We received 109 responses to the online consultation and 2 email submissions. 

On Monday 8 June, we published a statutory notice on the proposal to consolidate Hove Park School onto a single site, which was followed by a 4-week representation period giving residents further opportunity to comment on the proposals.  

What’s next?  

The changes will take effect from 1 September 2028 and all current students will continue their education at Hove Park School on the consolidated Nevill Campus.  

Only the Year 7 cohort due to start in September 2027 will experience a change to their expected progression, with these students moving to Nevill Campus in September 2028 (Year 8) instead of the originally planned September 2029 (Year 9).  

The construction work required at Nevill Campus is planned in 2 phases. Phase 1 is expected to be completed by July/August 2028 and focuses on essential building work, including: 

• a classroom extension  
• dining room extension  
• toilet accommodation  
• relocation of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision to the Modern Foreign Language block 
• associated drainage and utility diversions 

Phase 2, which is expected to be completed by Summer 2029, will include internal remodelling of the Nevill Campus and construction of a 3G artificial pitch. 

No decisions have been made on the future use of the Valley Campus site at this stage. We will be looking at the options which will be in accordance with the relevant statutory requirements and guidance.