Andrew Turner is clearly distressed at the bottom-in-England GCSE results. He also reveals for the first time that "Ministers have been worried about education on the Island for a long time".
There's been a massive GCSE improvement at Carisbrooke College with the number of pupils obtaining 5 GCSEs at A*-C including English and Maths, surging from below 30% to 54%. Well done to all!
The Isle of Wight council say due to changes in grading this year, the ability to fairly compare results with past years is challenging. However; early indications from schools suggest the underlying trend in outcomes will be stronger than previous years.
The overall outcomes for Year 11 in 2017 show a slow and steady improvement on previous years, with nearly all key measures better than or equal to last year.
The secondary school in Sandown says many of the targets set for Year 11 students have been met this year, with improvements on last year for 18 of the 24 subjects studied.
The Principal at Cowes Enterprise College said, "I couldn’t be prouder of them as they collect their GCSE results, which are extremely well-deserved and a testament to all their hard work under challenging circumstances"
Peter Shreeve of the NEU says robust systems must now be urgently developed to ensure that the 2021 grade awarding process for GCSE and A-levels is reliable, valid and secure
The new curriculum will include boat-building, including specifications and designing prototypes; navigation electronics; celestial navigation; tides; admiralty chart conventions; shipping forecasts; practical boat-handling skills; and attending Cowes Regatta to celebrate the production of boats.