A temporary governing body of education leaders will oversee St Mark's CofE Primary on Manor Road, the council says. Parents are to be invited to meet its chair in the coming weeks.

St Mark’s Church of England Primary School in Kemp Town is to be overseen by an Interim Executive Board, Brighton & Hove City Council announced on Tuesday. The board is a temporary governing body made up of experienced education leaders.

The council says the board will “strengthen leadership and governance” and help the school through “the next stage of improvement” (council announcement, 10 November). It will work alongside the school’s leaders, the council and the Diocese of Chichester.

Parents and carers will be invited to meet the new chair and members of the board “in the coming weeks”. The council has not yet named them.

What has happened at the school

St Mark’s is a voluntary aided Church of England school for children aged 4 to 11 on Manor Road. It sits on the edge of Kemp Town, close to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

In June 2025, the council says, an experienced headteacher, Michelle Lord, was seconded to lead the school as executive head. The council and the diocese gave extra support at the same time. Since then, it says, attendance and behaviour have improved.

The school has also made itself smaller. In June 2026 the Schools Adjudicator approved its request to halve its Reception intake, from 30 places to 15, for September 2026 and September 2027 (adjudicator’s determination, 3 June 2026). It is moving to mixed-age classes, which the council’s announcement also mentions.

Why the school asked to shrink

The governing body’s case to the adjudicator set out the pressures. It said:

  • the school had been unable to agree a licensed deficit with the council for 2025/26, so it needed a financial recovery plan
  • it received 13 first preferences for Reception places in January 2026, with about 400 surplus places across the city and a falling birth rate
  • many pupils join and leave during the year, a lot of them from families linked to short-term jobs at the nearby hospital
  • in December 2025 governors agreed a staff restructure built around mixed-age classes and a smaller intake

The school told the adjudicator it had secured a “good” Ofsted judgment in April 2025. It said that, despite this, its finances, the staff restructure and pupil movement had led the council to consider that it needed “support and intervention”.

The plan is to cap numbers at 15 per year group across the school and run four classes. The school said this would secure its future “as the only Church of England school in the locality”. The council and the diocese supported the change.

The numbers

St Mark’s admitted 18 children to Reception in 2023/24, 20 in 2024/25 and 21 in 2025/26, against 30 places each year. Across the nine primary schools in the council’s City East planning area, 90 of the 450 Reception places were unfilled in 2025/26, or 20%, the adjudicator calculated.

Year Reception places at St Mark’s Children admitted
2023/24 30 18
2024/25 30 20
2025/26 30 21
2026/27 15 not yet published

What the council said

The council said the board “brings together a broad range of experience and expertise”. Its role will be to strengthen the improvement and sustainability work already under way, “giving the school greater capacity, support and oversight as it moves forward”.

“Throughout this work, the focus remains on children, families and the quality of education pupils receive,” the council’s announcement says.

What it means for you

  • If your child is at St Mark’s, the announcement is about who oversees the school, not about lessons. The council has not announced any change to classes beyond the mixed-age model already in place.
  • Look out for the invitation to meet the board’s chair and members. The council says details will be shared “shortly”.
  • If you are choosing a primary school for September 2027, St Mark’s will have 15 Reception places, not 30. The national deadline for primary school applications is 15 January.