Reducing the number of school places on the Isle of Wight is a ‘critical and urgent’ priority which may mean school closures, a new council report says.
Councillors on the Children’s Services, Education and Skills Committee have been advised to recognise the urgency of addressing the issue in a paper from Ashley Whittaker, strategic director of children’s services.
County Hall is currently implementing a new education strategy for the Island to improve educational outcomes for children.
Declining birth rate
Mr Whittaker’s report states a ‘vital element’ of this is aligning the number of school places with the decreasing number of children living on the Isle of Wight.
The document says,
“The number of children joining mainstream primary schools on the Island has been reducing for several years. Over the past five years and more, some primary schools have closed, and others have reduced their published admissions number.
“However, the reduction in total primary school places has been less than the reduction in total children. Whilst some children, parents and carers continue to report that they welcome the smaller class and school sizes this decline in the number of children has delivered, the resultant challenges for school leaders are well known and have been previously documented.
“In 2024/25, a majority of 18 out of 31 maintained primary schools operated on an unsustainable in year deficit, i.e. were unable to match in-year expenditure with in-year income and had to utilise their reserve to balance the budget.”
The report says this trend is predicted to continue.
Delay in addressing school surplus capacity will lead to schools racking up greater deficits, it adds.
Suffering of educational quality
Several ‘growing risks’ are also mentioned regarding increasing surplus numbers over the coming years.
These include educational quality suffering, with resources spread too thinly, financial strain resulting from maintaining underutilised schools, and capital and revenue funding available to the council being insufficient to support all schools.
Such ‘financial instability’ could result in the failure to meet educational standards and regulations, possibly leading to legal challenges and penalties, the report warns.
Recommendations to the committee
One of its recommendations to education committee councillors is to agree that the first committee meeting after the 7th May local elections, expected to be in June or July, considers proposals on how to reduce school places.
A ‘period of engagement’ with stakeholders, involving listening events and meetings, has taken place since the committee’s October 2025 meeting.
These forums have included officers, councillors, parents and carers, headteachers, two dioceses and trade unions.
Key themes arising
The reports lists a number of key themes arising from the engagement, including that most participants understand the link between educational outcomes, surplus places and the ‘need for change’, any future process needing to be ‘demonstrably fair’ and a need to improve the transparency of any decision-making process.
Councillors will discuss the paper at 5pm this evening (Thursday 5th March 2026).
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
