Plans to create the new all through school for Sandown will move a step closer when official notices are published tomorrow (Friday) to legally kick start the process.
The move to consult on changing the upper limit of The Bay CE Primary School to include children up to the age of 16 comes after the Isle of Wight Council was given the Ministerial green light to start the statutory consultation process.
However, as part of the process, residents need to comment on the official notices.
“These notices are an important part of the process to achieve what the overwhelming majority of parents and the wider community want at Sandown and I urge local residents to have their say on plans to secure high quality secondary education for the area for years to come,” said Councillor Paul Brading, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.
“We know from the consultation carried out in the summer that residents are behind this move. Now they need to make their feelings known through this statutory process so we can move a step closer to our goal.”
The council cannot keep a sixth form on the site because Department of Education expect any new A Level department to include a minimum of 200 students and a curriculum of at least 15 subjects. Currently, there are only 39 post-16 students in Year 12 at Sandown Academy, making it unviable at present.
Councillor Brading explained that parents should not worry as pupils already studying A Levels at Sandown will be able to complete their studies.
“The council’s hands are tied on this point, but I can assure pupils and parents affected they will have my full support to help everyone successfully complete their studies.
We will be meeting with them in the coming weeks to discuss how best to achieve this.”
“In the longer term, we now need to look at the options for sixth form provision so that we can offer students and their families a stronger choice of outstanding and varied A level tuition,” he added.
The notices will be published on behalf of The Bay CE Primary School and the Church of England Diocese by the Island’s Council. Copies of the proposal are available from [email protected]. Any comments should be made to the council by midnight on Friday 7th December via e-mail to the same address.
