Education, Education, Education!

Sixteen months ago the Isle of Wight elected a Conservative council. One of the main reasons the Tories won the election was because leader, Dave 'not the Barbara Gaskin one' Stewart promised to get 13 of the 52 (25 per cent) Isle of Wight schools to an Ofsted level of 'Outstanding' by 2021.

With our pupils and teachers now back in the classroom for a new school year, and with 2021 just 29 months away, this seems a good time for me to give an interim report on Dave's achievements so far, and as it is a school report, I shall give Dave a mark at the end.

Since the Council elections of May 4, 2017 there have been Ofsted inspections at 24 of our schools, so with Dave's pledge in mind, it is reasonable for us to expect that six of those inspected would have received a rating of 'Outstanding'..... nothing wrong with my maths; although there could be a counter argument to that, seeing as I failed my maths O-level three times before giving up — perhaps things might have been different had Dave been in charge when I was at school.

Northwood Primary was the first school to be inspected after the election, and head teacher Sarah Hussey received a glowing report from Ofsted, who described her and her team as having a, "clear vision for a continually improving school with high aspirations for all pupils". The rating given was 'Good', which although very credible, would have been a disappointment to Dave, who would no doubt have had Northwood as one of his target seats, I mean, schools.

The next two schools to be inspected both rated as 'Requires Improvement', which is the next level down from 'Good', but the fourth school inspected under Dave's stewardship (or should that be stewartship.....I'll get my coat) brought some good news, with Newport C of E Primary being upgraded to a 'Good' from 'Requires Improvement', thanks in the main to the hard work of head teacher, Katherine Marshall, who Ofsted described as having, "highly effective leadership".

The next two reports to arrive on Mr Stewart's desk would probably have resulted in him crawling underneath it to hide. The Sandown Bay Academy (Sandown Grammar/Sandown High in old money) report gave the school a rating of 'Inadequate', whilst the report for the IW College; which was one of the two 'Pre-Tory' 'Outstanding' schools, was downgraded to a rating of 'Good' - did Dave NOT need that!

The next three inspections all resulted in 'Good' ratings, with Lanesend (formerly Love Lane) in Cowes described as having, "gone from strength to strength", with head teacher, Caroline Sice called a leader with, "a clear vision for improving the school".

High praise was also given to both the staff and head teacher, Rachel Kitley at Cowes Enterprise (the former Cowes High), with the school going from 'Special Measures' to 'Good'. Unfortunately it wasn't such good news for Dave from either Carisbrooke College (formerly Carisbrooke High) or Medina College (Medina High), with both receiving ratings of 'Requires Improvement' from their inspections carried out last November.

The back end of last year also saw 'Good' ratings achieved by; Yarmouth, Nine Acres, and Gatten & Lake Primary schools, which again is commendable, although no doubt frustrating for Dave, who again would have hoped that at least one of those would have given him one of the thirteen 'Outstanding' ratings he has promised his voters.

The first two inspections of 2018 didn't help Dave and that pledge of his either, with Carisbrooke Primary also getting a 'Good' instead of the 'Outstanding' Dave would have hoped for, whilst Oakfield Primary (which these days is based at the old Ryde Secondary Modern/Bishops Lovett site) received a rating of 'Requires Improvement', down from its previous rating of 'Good'.

The next two inspections brought encouraging results, with both Haylands and St Thomas of Canterbury coming up from 'Requires Improvement' to 'Good', and there were also 'Good' ratings given to the Primary schools at; Bay, Chillerton and Rookley, St Helens and Binstead, plus a 'Good' for the Island Learning Centre in Newport.

So there we have it. Since coming to power on the back of a pledge to increase the number of Island schools with a rating of 'Outstanding' from 4 per cent to 25 per cent, Mr Stewart hasn't seen a single school receive an 'Outstanding' rating, and in fact, he has lost one of the two 'Outstanding' ratings we had before he came to power. Currently just one school is at a level of 'Outstanding', so as Dave has gone backwards, I can only give him a mark of E minus for his education pledge, coupled with a 'Must Improve'.

Improvements are on track
From Cllr Paul Brading, cabinet member for children’s services, education and skills:
Sadly, Malcolm Mime seems to know little of the substantial improvements this Conservative administration has made to education on our Island and his column last week should be simply ignored.
The truth is we are well on track to deliver our goal of all schools rated by Ofsted as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by 2021, and remain confident we will deliver it. When we took control of the council last May, we immediately launched our Delivering Educational Excellence programme in all Island schools, and this is producing sustained improvement.  It means we have increased to 80 per cent all schools rated ‘good’ or better by Ofsted, and no school on this Island is now rated ‘inadequate’ — something that wasn’t the case when the previous administration was in charge. I thank all school staff and council officers for their hard work in achieving this most welcome progress.
 However, we are not complacent either so we are focusing our support on those schools that need help to improve to ‘good’ or better, as well as supporting selected schools to retain their existing ‘good’ ratings. We are also supporting schools to strive for ‘outstanding’ and we know there are ones that can achieve the top rating.
Alongside our progress with Ofsted ratings, we have seen substantial improvements in results at GCSE and A-level this year — something the misinformed Malcolm Mime omitted to mention — probably because it shows without a shadow of a doubt our strategy is working.  In addition, we invested over £4 million this summer into our school premises as part of an ongoing programme to upgrade our school infrastructure.
 Make no mistake: parents, carers, and students on the whole Island can have confidence they will receive the excellent education they deserve. We remain totally committed to delivering our education goals, and are on track to do so.
Editor's footnote: A letter from Bob Seely MP made the same points.