As you’ll be aware. there’s been some confusion on the Island as to who is asking for the changes to the school system.
The IW Council have been saying that it’s down to actions of the Government and the Government has recently been saying that it isn’t them.
The ones caught in the middle are the residents of the Island, in particular the children.
Here’s the latest episode. IW Council have written to Lord Adonis, Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Schools and Learners. The letter in full is below.
Lord Adonis
Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Schools and Learners
Department for Children, Schools and Families
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
Westminster
London
SW1P 3BT
31 January 2008
Dear Lord Adonis
We write further to the letter we received, at your request, from DCSF on 18th January. The letter from Peter Clough – Deputy Director of the School Improvement Division – helpfully set out a shared analysis of the situation on the Isle of Wight.
As you are aware, we are currently undertaking an informal consultation on options for change to the Island’s education system, with three different models being put forward to the public for their views.
After receiving DCSF’s “Primary Strategy for Change” document on 6th December, which set out guidance for local authorities on developing, agreeing and implementing a strategic approach to capital investment in schools, we adjusted all of our options to ensure we would be likely to meet the qualifying criteria for the primary capital programme.
In particular, we took note of the guidance that said “strategies that fail to commit to addressing surplus capacity at local authority or individual school level will not be approved”, which is followed by the statement that you would expect to see overall surplus places to be reduced to less than 10% across the local authority area.
These options are now out for public consultation and we are heavily engaged in this process.
We were therefore surprised and dismayed at the comments made by the Schools Minister, Jim Knight MP, on BBC South Today last night. He said that there is “no justification” for our proposals – which he claimed were “widescale closures of rural schools” (which is clearly not the case). Mr Knight openly criticised the proposals we are consulting on, despite the fact that we have modelled all the options on the clear guidance as set out by your department.
We find Mr Knight’s comments both unhelpful and extremely injurious to the current open consultation we are undertaking. It is a shame that the minister did not have the opportunity to review our proposals as he would have seen that – particularly under 2 out of our 3 options we have put forward – we are proposing to retain and strengthen a significant number of rural schools, accessible to local communities across the Island. We are even proposing a completely new build rural school to serve a number of villages.
In a meeting in March 2007 with the then Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, Mr Knight stressed that school organisation was a matter for the local authority, and this was reiterated in Mr Clough’s letter last week. We have repeatedly made clear that we are making a decision locally, in the context of the national framework – as we are doing so by meeting your criteria to qualify for Primary Capital Programme funding.
Furthermore, Mr Knight indicated in March 2007 that he was unable to comment on our proposals at the time, as he may have to consider them, as the Schools Minister, at a later stage. This seems to be completely at odds with his comments yesterday, and raises serious concerns over whether Mr Knight may have reached a pre-determined view on proposals which may come before him in due course.
We fully appreciate the requirements of the 2006 Education Act which stipulate that there is a “presumption against rural school closures”, and we have taken this into account in our proposals and our consultation is looking at the issues around this.
However, we feel it is somewhat misleading of government ministers to suggest, as Mr Knight did yesterday, that there has been “no policy change” in relation to rural schools. The Primary Capital Programme – and the criteria it lays down – surely represents the most significant change of funding arrangements for primary school buildings in recent years. It would be helpful if the government clarified its position as it is of major significance to the future of education on the Island.
There are a number of other related points which we feel need clarifying, and as such we seek an urgent meeting with you and your officials.
We hope that you appreciate the seriousness of the concerns we have raised here, and our view that the comments made by Mr Knight have the potential to adversely impact on the effectiveness of our consultation period and our ability to reach the best decision in March 2008 for the future of Island education.
We are of course writing to Jim Knight providing him with full details of our proposals.
Yours sincerely
Councillor David Pugh
Leader of the Council
Joe Duckworth
Chief Executive
