A national body has stepped into the possible school closures furore, saying few politicians are brave enough to go where the Isle of Wight Council is going.
The Local Government Association (LGA), an organisation representing local authorities across the UK, has backed the council’s school place planning proposals to reduce surplus places and expand SEND provision, currently under consultation until 1st November.
In a 28-page report published this week, the LGA said County Hall plans to reduce the number of Island schools are the ‘best option’ out of a variety of different approaches, including taking no planned action, actively working to keep schools open, localising decision making and rationalising the school estate.
The political group said the strategy put forward by education cabinet member Jonathan Bacon and director of children’s services Ashley Whittaker links directly to better educational outcomes for Island children.
Proposals would maximise the limited resources available to deal with the Isle of Wight’s ‘chronic and severe’ troubles with educational achievement.
The LGA also said the plans would make sure SEND provision advances and economic and community needs are met.
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association has said:
“Few politicians are ever going to be brave enough to step into this particular zone unless the case is compelling and that is the main reason why most other councils have yet to take this route. It is therefore all the more to their credit that the politicians of the Island have unanimously agreed to proceed to consultation to address these issues holistically.
Article continues below this advertisement “No alternative approaches could be envisaged that were better than the council’s proposals of July 2024.”
A background section of the report describes the state of the Island’s school places as stark, with its education system seriously impeded financially by having a third too many places than there are children being taught.
Excess places are said to be impoverishing Isle of Wight education.
The LGA does however state that mitigating action will be needed to make sure the council plan succeeds with the least possible disruption to pupils.
Its intervention has come as resistance to County Hall’s proposals continue with ongoing protests being attended by parents, children and members of the wider community.
Nick Binfield, a campaigner against the plans and parent of two children at at-risk Brading CE Primary School has said that the council’s thinking ‘lacks imagination’.
He said:
“There are situations on the mainland, for example in rural Nottinghamshire where their population is predicted to decline in primary schools to a similar amount to ours here, yet they’re choosing not to close rural primary schools, they’re asking rural primary schools to achieve savings by working together.”
The proposals are due to come under the spotlight of County Hall’s Policy and Scrutiny Committee for Children’s Services, Education and Skills on Thursday evening.
The Island needs to save money and sadly if that means
closing some schools down to achieve that, it has to be
done.
No point paying a teachers salary if they are
teaching empty classes.
Critics of IWC’s actoin are ignoring several incontrovertible facts:
Cllr Bacon and his colleagues are following the only conceivable path to survival. It will be inconvenient for some, but welcome to the real world.
That is why many of the local grown ups are not the
brightest sparks.
Poorly educated