We’ve asked council boss Steve Beynon (Update 7:25 He’s now replied, which we plan to publish tomorrow), Cllr David Pugh and Andrew Turner MP for their reaction to the lowest-in-England GCSE results that the Isle of Wight council as Education Authority has today overseen.
Despite being involved with a committee today, Andrew has come back to us, with the following. Before being an MP, Andrew was himself involved in education and it remains an interest to him – Ed.
“Terribly disappointing”
“These results are terribly disappointing. Parents will be appalled and many will be worried about the educational future of their children. Youngsters have only one chance at their education and they have been badly let down.
“These results are all the more disappointing because unlike many inner city schools, our pupil population is relatively stable and nearly all pupils have a good command of the English language; indeed the vast majority are native English speakers.
“Our results should be much better than these”
“Our schools simply do not face similar challenges in that regard to many on the mainland. Our results should be much better than these – not languishing at the bottom of the list. The reason is clearly not related to our island status as the Isles of Scilly top the league table!
Ministers worried about education on the Island”
“Ministers have been worried about education on the Island for a long time. I am contacting the Secretary of State to arrange to meet him and discuss these results.”
Image: maelvillafranco under a CC BY 2.0 license
