Caretaker Isle of Wight Council leader, Dave Stewart, has today (Wednesday) pledged that all Island schools will be rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, if the Conservatives are allowed to continue in charge after May’s elections.
Cllr Stewart has said that raising education standards is ‘absolutely key’ to the future of the Isle of Wight as he unveils the ‘All Schools Good Promise’.
In a statement issued this afternoon Cllr Stewart has said:
“Young people deserve the best education at the island’s 51 schools and businesses deserve to be able to pick the best local candidates with the right educational skills.
“The standard of education on the island has rightly been an area of concern for some years and we are committed to ensure it continues rapidly to improve.
“I have been in several constructive conversations with Cllr Chris Whitehouse, who is the council’s education lead, and the Hampshire-based director of education, we’re confident that our ‘All Schools Good Promise’ is an achievable target. We’re determined to deliver it. But we’re aiming even higher and want to see 25% of our schools ‘outstanding’.
“Good or better education is absolutely key to this island’s future and parents and children need to have confidence we are delivering that quality.
“Businesses across the Isle of Wight also need to have a good resource of young people to enable this island to prosper. We must have school leavers with the right skills for our job market so they have the opportunity to stay here and get good, skilled jobs without having to move to the mainland unless they want to.
Article continues below this advertisement “This target will not be easy to achieve, but we will drive this forward for the sake of our young people and our future economic prosperity.”
Of the 51 schools on the Island just 2 are presently outstanding, 32 are rated good, 14 require improvement, 1 is inadequate and 2 have not yet received an Ofsted report.
