One month since Academies Enterprise Trust announced they’d sought permission from the Secretary of State for Education to close Weston Academy primary school, confirmation of the closure has been issued.
AET, who took over the primary school in 2011, have today (Wednesday) announced it will close at the end of the autumn term.
A spokesperson for AET said,
“Rt Hon. Nicky Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education, has today confirmed her agreement to close Weston Academy at the end of this autumn term, 31 December 2015.
“The decision follows a period of declining pupil numbers at the Totland academy. In September 2015 there were just 56 children on roll with projections suggesting this number will fall further.
“Working closely with the Isle of Wight Council, the local schools admissions authority, many parents have already transferred their children to alternative schools in the local area. The remaining pupils at Weston will now transfer during the rest of the autumn term.”
Closure challenged
The Weston Academy Action Group have been working over the last four weeks to try and save the school, challenging AET over, amongst other things, the forecasted numbers of pupils.
During Spring 2015, the school issued details of their forecasted pupil numbers, which read,
School year 2017/18 – 60
School year 2018/19 – 68
School year 2019/20 – 73
Official forecasted figures
However, just a few months later, figures produced by the Isle of Wight council appear to be vastly different.
School year 2017/18 – 40
School year 2018/19 – 42
School year 2019/20 – 41
School year 2020/21 – 43
When asked how pupil number forecasts are made, a spokesperson for the Isle of Wight council,
“The Isle of Wight Council forecasts school places (including for Weston Academy) using a standard methodology. This methodology uses a dataset from the health authority advising the number of four year olds in the area, the take up of places in recent years in each school, and the known housing developments for the area.
“The historical patterns of pupil recruitment across ‘the school place planning area’ are mapped – and used to predict the intake year at each school; existing year group numbers are also rolled forward, with any trends in changes in pupil numbers replicated in the forecast.
“All these factors make up the standard methodology for forecasted numbers.”
AET CEO: “A very sad decision”
Ian Comfort, Group CEO for Academies Enterprise Trust, said:
“Closing a small school is always a very sad decision to make, and is only taken as a very last resort.
“The declining numbers at Weston, however, have been making it increasingly difficult for the school to provide pupils with the quality of education they deserve.
“I am sure they will all thrive in their new schools and we wish them, and the staff, every success in the future.”
The was school placed in Special Measures earlier this year following an Ofsted inspection.
