Angry parents blame housebuilding boom for lack of Horsham school places

Many shocked parents were informed by West Sussex County Council on Friday that their children are to miss out on their first choice of secondary school.

And some were left fuming - and their children in tears - when told that they would have to travel to schools in Crawley from their homes in Southwater.

Many have taken to social media to share their concerns. One man fumed: “This has been on the cards for years. 1000s of houses and no infrastructure it’s about time we woke up to this problem.

Crawley has seven secondary schools, we have three of which only one is mixed.”

Another added: “More housing and not enough schools is the problem.” And another blasted: “The size of Southwater now, could never understand why it did not not have its own secondary school.

“This is half the problem with the amount of housing not having enough capacity in local schools. It will only get worse if no new schools are built.”

And a woman added: “With the unprecedented increase in housing in the area it’s bound to have an effect on the number of children in the local schools. Three senior schools cannot take the increase in numbers.”

Another said: “This is what happens when our councils allow mass building. There is not the infrastructure in place to support the thousands of new houses.

“What did they think would happen? It will only get worse unless this massive destruction of our countryside stops. Not enough schools, doctors surgeries, hospitals, roads are full and our green spaces fast disappearing.”

A new school - Bohunt Horsham - is sheduled to open in temporary accommodation in Hurst Road, Horsham, in September. But it will initially cater for only Year 7 pupils. It is planned to build a new purpose-built Bohunt school as part of the new north Horsham development in 2020.

Meanwhile, many angry parents say they are appealing against the school allocations and have written to Horsham MP Jeremy Quin asking him to investigate.

Parents ‘devastated’ after children miss out on their choice of Horsham secondary schools

Stop failing Horsham children