Three years ago this spring, Episode 1 of the Class Divide podcast went out. Carlie and Curtis are back to talk about what has happened since, and what comes next. Have a listen. Search for Class Divide on your podcast app.
For East Brighton parents and carers.
Next drop-in - 12th May, @crew_club
Last time a lot came up that we want to pick back up on, and we’re keen to meet new people too, especially anyone who wants to help make sure education rights are being respected in East Brighton.
These drop-ins matter because none of this shifts unless we’re in the room together. Sharing what’s going on, what we’re noticing, what’s working and what isn’t, that’s where our campaign lives. Come along, bring someone new, bring what’s on your mind.
Please share with friends, at the school gate.
(edited) Yesterday Class Divide took part in a stakeholder panel as part of the process to appoint an independent chair for Brighton & Hove’s Inequality and Life Chances Review.
To be clear about our role: we were not the main interview panel and the final decision is not ours. The stakeholder panel consisted of two people - @oswald808 and a local councillor. As community stakeholders we interviewed six candidates across a long day.
We want to say genuinely how much we appreciated every candidate who put themselves forward for this. Chairing an inquiry like this is a significant undertaking, and the fact that six people were willing to step up for what is not a fully paid role says something about how seriously people take this issue.
Class Divide pushed for this review. We will continue to push for it to ask the hard questions, not just about the lives of people experiencing poverty, but about the systems, institutions and leaders whose decisions shape those lives.
Brighton is not a poor city. Yet our poorest children have some of the worst life outcomes in the country. The work now is making sure this review examines why - and that means looking across multiple layers.
Brighton has launched an Inequality Review. We welcome it.
But the independent chair role is unpaid. Lived experience work is unpaid.
That builds inequality into the process. Only people who can afford to work for free can apply or take part.
If the city is serious, it must resource this properly.
Read the latest blog in the news section on our website. Link in bio.
Chair deadline 28 Feb. Anonymous evidence route coming soon.
#inequality #class #theclassceiling
We launched our new School Travel Report today.
In Brighton and Hove, one in three parents and carers told us they’ve gone without essentials or borrowed money to pay school bus fares.
School travel should build independence and opportunity. Right now, high costs and unreliable services are doing the opposite: affecting attendance, punctuality and what young people can take part in after school.
Our call is simple:
* Free travel for children on Free School Meals and Pupil Premium
* Lowest fares guaranteed for all families
* Action on reliability, capacity and safe routes to school
Read the report - link in our profile
#Brighton #BrightonAndHove #SchoolTravel #Education #publictransport
Getting to school should be a good part of the day.
Time with friends. A bit of independence. Feeling part of your city.
For many families in Brighton and Hove, it is something very different.
Our new School Travel Report shares what 258 parents and carers told us about the cost and reality of getting children to secondary school in a cost of living crisis.
Some of what we found:
* 41 percent of children travel to school by bus
* Many families pay more because they can only afford daily tickets
* Parents are going without essentials and borrowing money to cover fares
* Transport issues are linked to lateness, absence and missed after school clubs
We are launching the report at an online event on Thursday 22 January, 5 to 6 pm, with parents, campaigners and headteachers.
Want to be part of the conversation about fair, safe and affordable journeys to school in our city?
Sign up via the link in our bio.
#BrightonAndHove #SchoolTravel #CostOfLiving #EducationEquality #ClassDivide
Five years ago today we delivered 3,500 zines across Whitehawk, Manor Farm and the Bristol Estate.
One for every household.
It was the first public thing we did as Class Divide.
At the time we wrote:
This campaign only matters if it matters to the people of East Brighton. So just as our cause started there, it was important that the campaign did too.
That is still true.
The zine shared what people here were already living with.
Long journeys to school.
Children being written off.
Families blamed for things they do not control.
A system that did not expect much, and often delivered less.
Since then, a lot has happened.
The problem is now recognised.
There are new bus services.
School admissions have changed in ways we were told would never happen.
We have built relationships across schools and across the city.
The ideas that came from this community are now being talked about nationally.
None of that came from nowhere.
It came from people here speaking up and sticking with it.
But there is still a long way to go.
Some people still think this is the fault of families and children.
There is still no secondary school in the community so every child still has to travel miles.
Buses are still too expensive and do not always work as they should.
Children growing up in poverty here still face some of the worst outcomes in the country.
So today is not about saying the work is done.
It is about recognising what this community has already made happen.
Five years ago we knocked on every door because this work only matters if it matters here.
That has not changed.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of this, from that first weekend to now.
We are proud of what has changed.
And we are still here for what comes next.
Getting to school should be a good part of the day.
Time with friends. A bit of independence. Feeling part of your city.
For many families in Brighton and Hove, it is something very different.
Our new School Travel Report 2025 shares what 258 parents and carers told us about the cost and reality of getting children to secondary school in a cost of living crisis.
Some of what we found:
* 41 percent of children travel to school by bus
* Many families pay more because they can only afford daily tickets
* Parents are going without essentials and borrowing money to cover fares
* Transport issues are linked to lateness, absence and missed after school clubs
We are launching the report at an online event on Thursday 22 January, 5 to 6 pm, with parents, campaigners and headteachers.
Want to be part of the conversation about fair, safe and affordable journeys to school in our city?
Sign up via the link in our bio.
#BrightonAndHove #SchoolTravel #CostOfLiving #EducationEquality #ClassDivide
We are hosting a delegation from the Department for Transport today. We’ll be sharing the findings from our recent school transport survey and taking them on a tour of 3 schools to highlight the challenges parents and children face and the impact this has on their opportunities.
