School Closures To Be Discussed Once More As Option To Reduce 'Surplus Capacity'

The contentious issue of possible school closures on the Isle of Wight could re-emerge at County Hall today (Thursday).

A newly formed children’s services, education and skills committee may authorise officers to carry out a review of school places, with a particular focus on primary provision, and to look at options on how to reduce surplus capacity.

In March, education councillors recognised reducing school places on the Isle of Wight, which may mean school closures, as a ‘critical and urgent’ priority.

Now with four Reform UK councillors and a new independent member since the local elections, the panel will decide again whether to agree to the same priority.

In March this year, Reform UK councillor Bill Nigh said a council controlled by his party would oppose school closures.

One recommendation within a report due to be presented tomorrow is to delegate authority to Ashley Whittaker, strategic director of children’s services, to develop the criteria to be used to identify schools for closure – if this is a pathway chosen.

The report says the council is currently implementing a new education strategy to improve educational outcomes for children.

A ‘vital element’ of this is aligning the number of school places with the decreasing number of children living on the Island which the local authority says can be achieved in several different ways, including school closures.

The paper says the number of children joining mainstream primary schools on the Isle of Wight has been in decline for a number of years.

This is illustrated by the ‘significant difference’ between the total number of children in Year 6 and the total for Reception in the Autumn of 2025 – 1,349 and 1,033 respectively, according to the council.

Though some children, parents and carers continue to report they welcome the smaller class and school sizes falling numbers of children has delivered, County Hall says the ‘resultant challenges’ for school leaders are ‘well known’.

The report refers to a synopsis of a meeting about school standards and school place planning in November last year, attended by headteachers and senior leaders.

There was a ‘consensus’ from those present that the amount of school places needs to reduce so it aligns with the number of school age children, now and in the future.

The synopsis said one of the consequences of the current surplus is a ‘sub optimal’ allocation of funding and resources, with another being that this ‘undermines’ the ability of school leaders to improve child outcomes.

“The proposed development of an agreed criteria framework is a critical step in ensuring that any future decisions relating to school place sufficiency are robust, transparent and evidence based,” the committee report says.

“Given the complexity and sensitivity of decisions such as reducing surplus capacity, including potential school closures, it is essential that the committee has a clearly defined and consistently applied set of criteria to guide decision making.”