Questions from Parents and Carers

Officers have modelled the implications for the schools on an area-by-area basis, using consistently applied criteria to determine which schools would operate under the different options. The criteria used for each school includes the following:

Whichever option is chosen, some schools will no longer be viable to maintain and will be closed. New schools may also be constructed under all of the options, to create high quality, modern learning environments

Whilst every attempt has been made to keep open high achieving schools, some of these schools do not meet other important criteria that we need to apply including for example the capacity and standard of the building/site to accommodate the required number of pupils

Money has been spent to meet current educational need. Regardless of proposed changes, it would have been inappropriate for children to have continued their education for another three years working for example in buildings not fit for purpose or in poor condition.

Government guidelines stipulate that free transport must be made available to a primary age child if the home address is more than two miles walking distance to the nearest school. A very small percentage of children will have to travel further and arrangements will be made to support those concerned. Where parents opt for a school further away they will be required to organise their own method of transport. The distance indicator for pupils aged 11 – 16 is three miles

It may be necessary for some schools to use temporary accommodation to manage the changes. Detailed plans will be developed following a decision by the Council in March. The council is committed to limiting the amount of time students spend in temporary classrooms.

Base pupil numbers are taken from the DCSF Annual School Census.  The local Planning Department forecast that approximately 600 residential units will be completed in a year and this information, together with knowledge of the main development sites informs the Forecast of School Numbers. (If approximately 1,000 houses are built, this will generate 30 children per school year group across the Island.) This has been factored into our calculations.

Our analysis shows that there is little or no difference in the standards achieved between smaller and larger primary schools on the Island and the progress pupils make through to Key Stage 2. However, smaller schools are far more expensive to run per pupil than larger schools. The size at which a school becomes too small is difficult to quantify. The Audit Commission found that costs per pupil rose significantly at primary schools with rolls below 90 pupils. In the secondary sector (11-16), the Audit Commission found that unit costs per pupil begin to rise significantly at around 600 pupils on roll. Also, while smaller primary schools may mean smaller classes it usually means that older children are required to be grouped with younger children in the classroom for teaching purposes

Any new school building would need to be subject to the local planning development framework and guidelines. This would include detailed studies of available and appropriate sites, prior to the submission of a full planning application. For this reason the Local Authority can only identify the broad area location in which the new build would be sought at this stage.

Under any of the options for school reorganisation there will be some movement of teaching and non-teaching staff. Whilst every effort will be made to re-deploy staff, some staff members may be at ‘risk’ of redundancy under the proposals. Falling roll numbers would lead to a reduction in teacher numbers anyhow. However, regardless of which option is pursued, we would be looking to recruit and retain the highest quality teaching and non-teaching professionals for Island schools.