Students at Sandown Bay Academy are planning another peaceful protest at lunchtime today.
On Wednesday this week, Year 11 students held a peaceful protest opposing the closure of the sixth form.
It’s closure had been announced as part of the plans for Sandown Bay Academy to be merged with The Bay Primary School in order to provide all-through education to 16 in the area.
Sixth form unviable say IWC
The council stated earlier this month that a sixth form needs to have at least 200 pupils and at the moment there are only 39 post-16 students in Year 12 at Sandown Bay Academy, “making it unviable”.
Cllr Paul Brading, the Cabinet member responsible for education, reiterated at Wednesday’s full council meeting that sixth form students at Sandown Bay would not be forgotten.
Andrew Swallow, head boy at the Academy, said that with enough time, effort and certainty, he believed they would be able to return to the correct amount of students.
Cllr Brading: “Council’s hands are tied”
Earlier this month he told parents not worry, as pupils already studying A Levels at Sandown will be able to complete their studies.
“The council’s hands are tied on this point, but I can assure pupils and parents affected they will have my full support to help everyone successfully complete their studies.
“We will be meeting with them in the coming weeks to discuss how best to achieve this.
“In the longer term, we now need to look at the options for sixth form provision so that we can offer students and their families a stronger choice of outstanding and varied A level tuition.”
Pupils will be protesting during their lunch break today (Friday).
Image: Students protesting about Academy Sponsor AET in May 2017.
