A Newport Councillor has written to senior education officers of Hampshire County Council complaining about “blatant discrimination” against an Island high school in the allocation of financial resources.
Cllr Chris Whitehouse, whose Newport West Ward includes the Island’s only “good” high school, Christ the King College, has rebutted claims by Hampshire’s Assistant Director of Children’s Services, Felicity Roe, that the College’s budget lacked clarity and in which she was unable to offer any financial help, for which the College had been pleading, to assist it with the costs of its new sixth form building.
Cllr Whitehouse says:
“Ever since its inauguration, Christ the King College has been blatantly discriminated against in the allocation of financial resources on the Island. This must now stop and Christ the King students should be treated equally to students in other schools where vast fortunes have been spent on under-occupied buildings which have led to a staggering 3,000 surplus high school places on the Island.
“Christ the King, a school which is knocking on the door of outstanding according to Ofsted, is understandably bursting at the seams and some of its classrooms were wholly inappropriate for the age of the students and the stage of their studies. That the Local Education Authority has systematically refused any significant funding for the new 6th form building is the latest example of this discrimination.”
In a letter copied to the Island MP, Andrew Turner, as well as to both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Bishops of Portsmouth, Cllr Whitehouse argues:
“Given the many millions of pounds that officers are pushing to be spent on Cowes Enterprise College, which is hugely undersubscribed, it borders on the obscene that Christ the King College continues to be unfairly treated as it has been since the College was launched.”
Christ the King College, a joint Catholic and Church of England School, is the only faith High School on the Island and provides places for Christian children from all over the Island as well as “community places” for children who are of other faiths and none. Hampshire County Council is now running education for the Isle of Wight Council under a Direction from Education Secretary, Michael Gove.
Cllr Whitehouse was, however, at pains to make it clear that this is not a party political dispute, saying:
“I have been at meetings with Cllr Richard Priest, who leads for the Independents on this issue, and I know he has considerable sympathy for the plight of Christ the King. It is just so frustrating that officers have been focusing on securing millions for Cowes Enterprise College whilst failing to acknowledge the needs of other high schools which are in awful situations.”
Photographed: The brand new Christ The King College Sixth Form building opening last year
