Final votes on closing 5 Isle of Wight primary schools will take place at a crunch Cabinet meeting tonight (Thursday).
County Hall’s executive may approve the closures of Arreton Primary, Brading Primary, Cowes Primary, Oakfield Primary and Wroxall Primary, as well as the roll out of a 12-place primary resourced provision for autistic children at The Bay CE School in Sandown.
Cabinet members were originally scheduled to vote on the closures at a meeting on 6th March but after an outcry from the Corporate Scrutiny Committee over being given only 3 working days to read hundreds of accompanying papers, the decision was deferred by 2 weeks.
On Tuesday night, the same committee voted to recommend that Cabinet refer the ‘whole process’ to the Council’s new committee system of governance, due to take effect from May. If this happens then the closures will not go ahead as planned this August.
The ruling Alliance administration’s plans have provoked considerable controversy over the last few months, with parents, councillors, campaigners and trade unionists expressing disquiet over impacts on children, communities and staff.
In an advisory ballot in January, Full Council voted against issuing closure notices, with 12 members opposed, 11 in favour and 6 abstentions.
In February, the Church of England’s (C of E) Diocese of Portsmouth sent a letter to the council threatening legal action over what it described as ‘unclear, inconsistent and damaging’ closure plans. 3 of the primaries earmarked for closure – in Brading, Oakfield and Arreton – are C of E schools.
At the 6th March cabinet meeting, campaigner and parent representative at Oakfield CE Primary School Jen Hughes questioned the financial viability of the process after it emerged closures could cost over £3million.
Unison’s local government branch secretary Mark Chiverton urged the administration to rethink the plans and consult meaningfully over a much longer period.
His plea came days after 5 trade unions representing thousands of school workers on the Island said they were currently ‘in the process of initiating indicative ballots for industrial action’, following member requests.
A cabinet report published in advance of tonight’s meeting says:
“In November 2024, we had 2,311 unfilled physical school places. This has increased from 1,898 unfilled school places in October 2023.
“Falling rolls make planning and staffing decisions difficult, with schools potentially having to make year on year redundancies.
“At times, the effective management of school places will include the need to remove surplus places and/or expand provision to ensure overall provision aligns with forecast need.
“Due to a significant reduction in birth rates on the Island, action is recommended in the primary phase to ensure demand and capacity are aligned and we continue to provide the best outcomes for children, which is the focus of this report.”
Let’s hope they make the right decision and close these schools instead
of wasting my council tax on unfilled schools.. Most parents won’t notice the difference as they already drive there children from outside of the areas concerned
That’s it though, in reality they are NOT unfilled, you believe the horseshit this council spew out then. So you would rather pay MORE of your council tax money for private taxis to ferry kids to the very few schools that will stay open. False economy. These schools MUST stay open.