Purpose

Twineham CE
(Voluntary Controlled) Primary School is a Church of England school
located in the village of Twineham, to
the West of Burgess Hill and South-West of Haywards
Heath.  The school caters for children
aged 4 – 11 with a capacity for 105 pupils with up to 15
pupils in each year group.  The demand
for places at the school has been declining, with only 48 pupils on
roll in the summer term 2025, and expected to fall to 26 pupils in
September 2025, creating a challenging financial position for the
school.
 
It is proposed to undertake a consultation in
the Autumn term to seek views on whether to close Twineham CE Primary school from the end of the
academic year 2025/6, meaning pupils would no longer be admitted
from September 2026.  This initial
public consultation would be in accordance with
Department for Education’s Opening and closing maintained
schools statutory guidance, which sets out a prescribed process
that must be followed when school closures are proposed and
consists of a number of stages.  The
first stage of which is to undertake a public consultation.
 

Decision

The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People
and Learning has approved the launch of a public consultation, in
accordance with the
Department for Education guidance, to seek views on the
proposal to close Twineham CE (Voluntary Controlled) Primary school
from 31 August 2026.