This in from the council. Ed
The Isle of Wight Council’s new Executive member for children’s services, Cllr Chris Whitehouse, says he is “setting the new Administration’s sights high” when it comes to teacher recruitment and retention, with a view to making the Island a “beacon of excellence” to drive up education standards for all our children.
Children of staff
At its Executive meeting on 9 February, the Isle of Wight Council’s Executive members will consider a proposal to add “children of staff” to the over-subscription criteria list within admissions arrangements for schools for which the council is the admissions authority.
The move will allow schools to use this as an additional criteria to give priority in the event of oversubscription and is aimed at improving retention and recruitment of high quality teaching and support staff on the Island.
Unlikely to affect large number of applications
It is also important to stress that this criteria will only be used in the event that a school is oversubscribed and is unlikely to affect a large number of applications.
Existing criteria such as siblings already at the school, for example, will remain in place and will have priority over children of staff.
Beacon of excellence in teacher training
Councillor Chris Whitehouse said:
“This is a move to ensure that the Island can continue to recruit, retain and motivate teachers of the highest possible calibre, so helping drive up education standards and improving the life chances of our children.
“I would also like to thank all those who gave their feedback on the consultation survey. The council has taken these views on board and this change under consideration will allow us to continue to effectively and fairly manage the demand for places.
“We’re determined to make the Island a beacon of excellence in teacher training and career development, somewhere the best teachers in the country want to come and work. This slight amendment to the admissions arrangements of some schools will help achieve that objective.”
Looming deadline
The Isle of Wight Council must by law determine, before 28 February 2017, the arrangements that will apply to school admissions in the academic year 2018/19.
As part of this, the council carried out a consultation regarding main round and in-year admissions for the school year 2018/19.
Image: knittymarie under CC BY 2.0
