By Isle of Wight Observer
The Place Planning paper, considered by cabinet on Thursday, is part of a much wider approach to addressing the issues in education on the Island (as set out in the draft education strategy, published on July 8), which puts place planning in context.
The education strategy has been created, and is being further developed over the next six months, as the basis for an overarching drive to tackling the key issue we face which is educational standards on the Island.
While we have some amazing examples of success and high achievement, overall educational attainment on the Island is poor.
This has not been properly acknowledged in recent years. There has been too much of a tendency to look for those examples of success and improvement while neglecting the bigger picture; however, it is the key issue that must be addressed if we are to do the best for our children. Key to this is ensuring that our schools are properly resourced. Schools are funded per pupil, so if you have fewer pupils spread across too many schools none of them end up with enough money.
Addressing the issue of surplus school places means that schools can be funded better so that they can start to concentrate on standards rather than just day to day survival. It is also key that we now have control of our children’s services department, and we are no longer in a partnership with another authority. This means we now have an Island-based team whose sole focus is the Island and Island children, rather than us being a small percentage of the workload for a body based elsewhere.
So things are different now. We have a new honesty about where our educational standards sit, and the fact we must do something about them, and we have an education department now solely focussed on the Island. Further, the engagement we have been undertaking over recent months (which will continue over the summer) means that decision-makers, parents, and the wider public now have a better understanding of the issues.
Most importantly this is all being done within the context of a clear strategy to improve our educational standards. It is not a process just about numbers, money or the size of schools, but a whole Island approach, being led on the Island, to create a sustainable basis upon which to achieve the best possible outcomes for our children and young people.