ISLE OF WIGHT PRIMARY SCHOOLS STILL BOTTOM OF THE CLASS ACCORDING TO NEW DATA

The latest data for primary school attainment for the 2022/23 academic year makes grim reading for education bosses on the Isle of Wight. 53% of the Island’s 1,375 Key Stage 2 pupils have reached the expected standard, compared with 60% nationally. Just 4% of local school students were of a higher-than-expected standard, compared with 8% nationwide, meaning that Island primary school students are half as likely to become high flyers than their peers nationwide. 18 primary schools saw no pupils at all achieving a higher-than-expected standard, which must be a concern for the parents of gifted children who have been enrolled in an underachieving school. Regarding the 3Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic – 69% of Island pupils achieved the expected standard in reading (compared with 73% in England as a whole); 64% met the grade in writing (71% in the rest of the country); 67% were at the expected level in maths (73% nationwide). Happily, not all Isle of Wight schools have underperformed. Nine Acres Primary School in Newport had some impressive results, which were well above average in both writing and maths. 14% of pupils at Nine Acres, St Francis Primary School and Godshill Primary achieved a higher-than-expected standard overall – 6% higher than the national average. Anyone wishing to examine the results of key stage 2 attainment on the Isle of Wight may do so here.