By Press Release
The latest government statistics bring more bad news for Island education, with our primary school sector joining GCSE and A-level results at the bottom of key league tables.
Provisional Key Stage 2 results reveal that following the Covid pandemic, results for Island children leaving primary schools have dropped twice as much as the national average and are now the worst in England.
When the same figures were last published in 2018/19, the Island was in the bottom 10 per cent of local authorities. Sixty-five per cent of English pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, this fell six points to 59 per cent. The pre-pandemic Island figure was 59 per cent which fell 12 points to just 47 per cent. The higher standard is met by 3 per cent of Island pupils, against an average of 7 per cent.
Many Islanders remember the 2011 education system re-organisation under the then Conservative council led by David Pugh, now local Tory chairman. In some respects, Island results are worse than before the changes. Council papers from September 2009 said, “Primary schools remain the best performing sector with outcome performance for the fifth year running in the top ten per cent of all local authorities”. In November 2008, there was a warning of a high risk that a new two-tier system might fail to improve results, especially during the transition. However, the changes went ahead, attracting widespread criticism, including from Ofsted, who criticised “Poor corporate and strategic leadership”.
The latest primary results are another blow to the Isle of Wight Council. The IW Observer recently revealed that Ofqual, the body that regulates exams, has released figures showing the Island’s GCSE and A-level results were worse than any other English county.
Since July 2013 Hampshire County Council officers have managed the Island’s education service, now charging more than £1 million a year for their services. The head of children’s services, Steve Crocker, is paid a total of £193,673 including pension contributions, with the Island charged £46,620 of that.
The IW Observer asked why local results had fallen so dramatically during the pandemic. They failed to answer our question but released a statement laying the blame firmly on Island primary schools. It said: “All schools should be aiming to secure high standards for the Island’s children. They need to refocus their efforts and participate fully in the training being offered by the Council as we need to see very rapid improvement this year.”
Officers have access to non-public data, which they claim shows that schools “that kept engaged in training during the pandemic have generally fared the best in terms of standards”, specifically pointing to maths training, funded by the IW Council and the Primary School Network, which Hampshire charges individual schools extra for.
Cllr Andre, who holds the cabinet post with responsibility for education said: “The figure for the Isle of Wight is disappointing, although our close neighbour Portsmouth is only marginally better at 48 per cent.
“However, this provisional data shows that our Island children are not achieving the outcomes they should. We are working with a range of partners to look at further interventions to support staff to drive standards up and deliver better results. We are also working more closely with families to improve attendance and children’s wellbeing to enable them to thrive.”
Header image: Steve Crocker
