A group of Isle of Wight school leaders are calling to scrap a quarter of the Island’s primary schools, with warnings that keeping too many schools open risks condemning pupils to a mediocre education long into the future.
Earlier this year a primary pupil places working group was set up, comprising headteachers and chairs of governors, to consider challenges as pupil admission numbers are projected to fall even further.
With a potential 1,800 empty places in Island primary schools at the start of the upcoming academic year in September, they say the overprovision of places is challenging the efficiency of education settings.
Around 270 of those places will be in Reception classes and the group felt, that unless there was a massive increase of young families moving to the Island, 39 ‘increasingly inefficient’ primary schools could be reduced to closer to 30 more efficient ones.
In a statement, the group said:
“The piecemeal approach taken by recent Isle of Wight Council administrations to address overprovision has been too slow and too limited.
“There is an acute need now to take an honest and transparent lead — replacing self-protection by elected members and their officers, headteachers and governing bodies, with a selflessness aimed genuinely at placing the education and life chances of Island primary pupils at the heart of all our work.”
In response, the council’s children services director Steve Crocker highlighted the ‘School Places Plan’ currently being devised to address issues. It will be released in September.
The announcement that the rural Chillerton and Rookley Primary School will stay open, however, has led the pupil places group to criticise the council’s ruling Alliance administration.
The group said the likelihood was that the ‘good reputation of Island education would dwindle away’ and that the choice of ‘form over substance — a few popular votes over children’s education’ would be the Alliance’s legacy.
In keeping the primary school open, funding across the board would be spread thinner, the group says, with less money being spent on individual children’s education but more on overheads like leadership teams and properties.
They said:
“Instead of concentrating our best quality leaders, teachers and staff in the right number of efficient, ‘Good’ and better rated schools, and giving them enough resources to enhance provision, we will be opting for quantity of schools and places over quality.”
Isle of Wight Council officers are looking at how the authority can support smaller and rural primary schools, with the council’s education lead Cllr Debbie Andre previously saying she was confident the model existed.
The meddling is getting ridiculous now. All they want is superschools to further increase the brainwashing.
Life is odd and full of coincidences.
For since much of the 3rd world has up-sticks and settled in the West that we are becoming a 3rd world country which can’t now afford food, homes and education. What a coincidence.
Best thing all that money spent on small school’s .
heating bills.maintenance.that’s just the start. I know I work in one.
Going by your SPaG, hopefully not as a teacher or TA.
Who the hell are these so called school leaders. If 25% of Primary schools are shut no doubt that will lead to larger class sizes and more teaching staff out of work. Also more travelling to and from school just what is needed with fuel at such a high price. Schools will be knocked down and lots of houses built on the land so more families move in and surprise surprise no local schools for them
those teachers etc, just want to close the schools, so that they can concentrate more funds into a smaller area, that enables them to have higher salaries.
The council is trying to concrete over the island with thousands of houses in an attempt to import more dross here and the teachers are trying to close schools for their own vested interests, whilst pretending that it is in the kids interests – It wasn’t that long ago the teachers were whining about large class sizes and how they couldn’t cope. They seem to be changing their views like the weather forecast.
follow the money
If, and only if you believe what you are told!
I think most teachers would support the idea of well funded small schools that can provide traditional learning where every pupil is given the chance to grow. Much as it is now, albeit the funding is poor
Super schools are faceless, lack soul and character, and are brainwashing factories.
But they look nice, and ‘on trend’ but of little substance.
Or put another way, all the gear and no idea.
They already got rid of all the middle schools not so long ago (which were nicer places).
Perhaps if they hadn’t built new super size primary schools and also extensions at some primary schools, they would be in a better position.
Also the Isle of Wight already has the highest home schooling population in the UK, so closing schools would just add to this.
Seems like a way of blaming for under-performance.
Just a way of making the gullible accept thousands more house here by then thinking ‘unless we allow the island to be built to oblivion, we won’t have anywhere to have our children educated
See the real reasons here.
Very well put Mrs T
Also I’d like to ask this so called group of school leaders if they know why so many island parents are removing children from school education? Perhaps because things are a shambles since the fabled two teir system came into being?
So shut down the rural primary schools, move all kids into central hubs of education and make things even worse….. Great idea
More efficient = more, and easier, indoctrination in LGBTPQRS+++. Fight to keep infant schools local and responsive to parents’ wishes.
all LGBTQ are wrong and still peddling a 20th century mantra, as they bang on about inclusion and diversity, however, there is no “H” in LGBTQ for heterosexual.
If they want true inclusion and diversity then it is LGBTQH and whatever else – which can easily be summarised as “Humans”
you cannot shout and demand inclusion, when you exclude the majority of society from your acronym.
Bravo, telling the truth doesn’t go down well in this day and age.
Why must people insist on pointing out their different if they want to be included? I don’t need to be told I have to accept things as ‘normal’ when I already have
Child tax credits pays thousands a year as well as a couple of thousands for each child in child allowance
Perhaps the child tax credits could be halved and then our money which such recipients gain could be utilised on schools for their choice of having children?
Otherwise we fund their choice which we then have to pay again to keep schools open via higher council tax which they don’t pay as they are claiming tax credits!
Why such appalling grammar Mrs T?
I find her post honest and refreshing. Perhaps that is why Baffled, you have to nit-pick over trivia as you know she is correct?
Good idea… if you can afford children you should expect to find their care without back up from government funding.
If they don’t need all those school places then why do they need all those thousands of extra houses they insist must be built ?
it makes me wonder why the schools are so-called empty.
Where are all the thousands of homeless people s kids going to go that we’re supposed to have here when they’ve built all the new houses?
Let’s see, just as a matter of principle how many of these schools stay open within the jurisdiction of these school leaders.
Bembridge will certainly be kept open if those on the council who have say in such matters are, as you suggest, biased to their own needs.
I have a better idea let warners buy the island then it would be child free job done.
1800 empty spaces in primary schools. Maybe it’s because the thousand plus planned houses will be filled with retirees where they should be filled with young Island families and at an affordable price.
What about getting rid of 25% of the councilors and the dead wood, and reducing our council tax by 25% that is paying for those schools?