Call to scrap quarter of Isle of Wight's primary schools

Calls for a quarter of schools to be closed on the island have been made by a group of school leaders

There are calls to close a quarter of the Isle of Wight's primary schools.

A group of school leaders on the island warned keeping too many schools open risked condemning pupils to a mediocre education, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

There are a potential 1,800 empty primary school places on the island for the start of the new academic year.

The island's council said its School Places Plan is due to be released in September and will address the issue.

Earlier this year a working group was set up, comprising headteachers and chairs of governors, to consider challenges as pupil admission numbers were projected to fall even further.

The group found the overprovision of places was challenging the efficiency of education settings, with around 270 places in reception classes.

It said unless there was a massive increase of young families moving to the Island, 39 "increasingly inefficient" primary schools could be reduced to closer to 30 more efficient ones.

In a statement, the group said: "The piecemeal approach taken by recent Isle of Wight Council administrations to address overprovision has been too slow and too limited.

"There is an acute need now to take an honest and transparent lead, replacing self-protection with a selflessness aimed genuinely at placing the education and life chances of Island primary pupils at the heart of all our work."

Isle of Wight Council officers are looking at how the authority can support smaller and rural primary schools, and the council's education lead Debbie Andre previously said she was confident it could be done.