County Hall’s “flawed” school proposals will be met with trade union resistance in their current form, and must be reconsidered, a prominent trade unionist has said.

Speaking at the Newport protest on Monday, Mark Chiverton, secretary of Unison’s Isle of Wight branch, said: “We’ve attended all the consultation meetings, those with staff, which have talked about their concerns in terms of job losses and their future, and the loss of such a huge amount of experience and skill, and the meetings with parents which have raised their particular concerns in a couple of areas.

“We do believe the council needs to look again at the proposals. It needs to listen carefully to what parents are saying.

“We believe there is a real danger that, whilst proposals along these lines potentially could ease parts of the current financial difficulty, the danger is that a huge amount could be lost in that process, which would actually be detrimental to many children on the Island.

“Plus particular problems for children with special educational needs, for whom it’s going to be particularly disruptive.”

The public sector trade union official said a number of trade unions, including Unison, the National Education Union and the GMB, are opposing the proposals.

He added trade unions would continue to make representations around jobs and the detrimental effect the plans would have on the education community, the wider community and the Island’s economy.