CONSULTATION: WE ARE ALWAYS STRIVING TO DO BETTER FOR OUR CHILDREN
You can share your views here:
views@coomberoad.brighton-hove.sch.uk
Coombe Road Primary School has a strong reputation in the community for being highly inclusive, built on strong relationships, and feeling like a family. We are ambitious for our children’s education and have high aspirations for their future. As a result, we are a highly successful school, rated good by Ofsted twice in a row, and have seen a 26% increase in pupil numbers over just three years – in a city with one of the lowest birth rates in the country.
Our dedicated governors have been exploring ways to take the school to the next level. They take their role seriously in ensuring the school has access to the capacity and expertise needed to accelerate improvement. Throughout the autumn term, The Pioneer Academy gave the school ‘associate membership’ to their trust – a package designed to accelerate improvement at no cost to the school. The governing body’s aim was to share our ambition with The Pioneer Academy and better understand how it might help strengthen key aspects of school life and learning. This ensured that governors were in the strongest position to carefully weigh all options to determine what is in the best interests of our children, the school, and the wider community.
Our small size is, in many ways, one of our greatest strengths. It allows our staff to know our children and families well, build deep relationships, and create a safe and exciting environment for learning. However, it also means that we are continually seeking additional support to make the school even better. The Pioneer Academy, which has a strong track record of school improvement, can enhance our capacity. A multi-academy trust is a group of schools that work together as one organisation. They share resources, expertise, and ideas to help all the schools improve and give children the best education possible.
Last year, the Government launched Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams to help raise education standards across England. The CEO of The Pioneer Academy is one of the first RISE advisers appointed to the programme. The trust also includes staff who are trained Ofsted inspectors and leaders with experience across London and the South East, offering valuable support to our school. You can find out more about the trust by clicking here.
Following associate membership of The Pioneer Academy and preliminary exploratory stakeholder engagement, the governing body of Coombe Road Primary School proposes that the school convert to academy status and join The Pioneer Academy Trust. A full consultation is open and will close on Friday 27th February 2026. We want you to please have your say.
We really want to hear from you!
You can share your views here:
views@coomberoad.brighton-hove.sch.uk
If the proposal is taken forward, it is anticipated that Coombe Road Primary School would become an academy by September 2026.
Small group consultation meetings for current or future parents will be held on:
- Tuesday 20th January
- Wednesday 4th February
We are also offering one-to-one meetings with any parents or carers who would like to share their views or find out more, and we have asked our staff what further information they need and offered them meetings or visits to ask questions and share their views.
Please contact the school office to sign up for one of these meetings.
We would like to thank you for your continued support of Coombe Road Primary School. We believe that we have a truly wonderful school here and we are committed to ensuring we provide the very best for all of our school community.
You can find our consultation paper here:
You can find our frequently asked questions below:
