Seagull Weekly Briefing 27/09

Good morning, and welcome to the Brighton Seagull's Weekly Briefing. We hope you didn’t get blown away by all the wind yesterday! One of Team Seagull got briefly trapped in a cafe because of an overflowing storm drain but they did make it out eventually by jumping over a chair. Then the rain stopped again. They didn’t feel this justified a main story or even a nib, but it’s something that happened in the city this week! It’s news!

Change to secondary school allocation for children on free school meals

Children on free school meals will get priority when applying to secondary schools as of September next year.

The aim of this scheme to give the most disadvantaged children in the city more choices when it comes to which school they go to, and to improve equality in education by making sure they can gain access to high performing schools.

Parents won't be able to choose a guaranteed school for their children, but they will be able to express a preference for any school in the city.

If one of those schools is a community school (a school run by the council), and the school is oversubscribed, priority will go to children in the catchment area who receive free school meals.

Community schools in the city are Blatchington Mill, Hove Park, Dorothy Stringer, Varndean, Patcham and Longhill.

The average percentage of secondary pupils on free school meals across the city is 25%, and is expected to rise to 28% next year.

However, some schools have more than the average percentage of children on free school meals and some schools significantly below the average.

This makes Brighton and Hove one of the first councils in the country to introduce a free school meals admission priority.

🖋 News in Brief 🖋

• A new, fully accessible Changing Places toilet has opened in St Ann’s Well Gardens. It has a hoist, adjustable changing bench, height adjustable sink and extra space, and will be open between 10am to 6pm during the summer, and from 10am to 4pm during the winter.
• Council car parks are becoming cheaper thanks to a new parking plan. A report that went to the council last night has set out the changes: the long and short of it is parking is becoming cheaper and easier. Find out more here.
• Brighton station has temporarily been renamed Blyton until Monday 7th October to celebrate Bly Twomey, a 14-year-old from Brighton who won two bronze medals at the 2024 Paralympics. The signage comes down the day after World Cerebral Palsy Day, a condition she was born with.

What's happening? The Great Escape has shared that the Faroe Islands will no longer be its lead country partner next year, eight days after making the announcement.

What is a lead country partner? A country the festival is highlighting, which changes each year, with themed stages and events around the festival. Team Seagull went to one such event last year to celebrate the launch of the festival and the lead country partner, Italy.

Why have they decided to go back on their partnership? In a statement published on Wednesday, they said it's because of 'recent concerns regarding whaling practices in the Faroe Islands'. They went on to thank 'everyone in our wonderful community for addressing this issue and helping to communicate its seriousness'.

Who has raised issues? Sussex Dolphin Project, who we spent a day with back in 2022, said they were 'utterly shocked' that the Faroe Islands were the festival's lead partner country, saying:

The Faroe Islands are infamous for their cetacean drive hunts, known as the grindadráp or grind.

What is the grindadráp? It's a type of hunting dating back to 800 to 900 AD, where participants herd whales and dolphins into shallow bays to kill them. According to Sussex Dolphin Project, six drive hunts have occurred so far this year in the Faroe Islands, killing 592 long-finned pilot whales and 150 white-sided dolphins.

Is it legal? Pilot whales are protected in the EU, but the Faroe Islands are an autonomous territory of Denmark, so they are self-governing. It's complicated, basically.

What have supporters of the ban said about The Great Escape's decision? The Sussex Dolphin Project said:

Thanks to the BBC for talking to us about our campaign to highlight what we believe was an issue of artwashing by the Faroe Islands in an attempt to distract from the grind.

We are relieved that The Great Escape quickly ended this partnership. This action was never about stopping Faroese artists from performing. We hope they will use this platform to voice their opposition to the grind and their desire for change.