SANDOWN Bay Academy is to be placed in special measures following its latest Ofsted report. 
All areas of the school were rated as 'requiring improvement' except for the effectiveness of leadership and management which was found to be 'inadequate'. 
The report noted the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), which runs the school, failed to provide sufficient support in the wake of a debilitating cyber attack last year, which resulted in the widespread loss of important documents, including pupils' progress reports, teaching plans, and exam works. 
In a statement to the County Press, an AET spokesperson said the trust recognises its failure to drive forward improvement at the academy. 
He said: "Many of these challenges stem from the underlying context within which Sandown Bay is working, where it has a falling student roll due to over-supply of secondary school places on the Isle of Wight, and as a result income has been falling steeply year-on-year.  
"The resulting annual cycle of redundancies has put enormous pressures on staff and made it very difficult for the school to provide the resources and the teaching it needs."
Former Isle of Wight Council Tory education spokesman, Cllr Chris Whitehouse, said: "Senior management at AET should hang their heads in shame and write personally to the parents of every pupil and to every staff member to apologise unreservedly for their complete failure to support and develop what should by now have been a good school. 
"This scathing criticism of AET by Ofsted comes as no surprise to those involved with the school and reinforces the clear message that AET should be sacked, forthwith. 
"The damage that has been done to this school by AET is deeply shocking, but proposals for a new way to provide secondary education in Sandown are out for consultation and we are confident that a local team with community at its heart can turn the school around." 
The inspection took place on May 23 and 24 shortly after the principal, two vice principals, and business manager had all resigned, and AET had just announced its intention to close the school. 
Cllr Chris Quirk, former chair of governors at the school, said: "AET has never established a long term approach to deliver school improvement.  
"Instead AET has focused on cost cutting and staff reductions beyond that required to balance the books, penalising the school financially and changing the goalposts sometimes several times in a single term. 
"AET has shown itself to be a trust that simply cannot be trusted." 
The full statement from AET reads: "We are very aware of the issues in the Academy as well as its strengths, and fully take on board this report.  We acknowledge, as we have already acknowledged elsewhere, that AET has not succeeded in driving forward the educational improvements at Sandown Bay that we would all wish to see, and we fully understand the problems and challenges standing in the way of pupils' progress.
"Many of these challenges stem from the underlying context within which Sandown Bay is working, where it has a falling student roll due to over-supply of secondary school places on the Isle of Wight, and as a result income has been falling steeply year-on-year.  
"The resulting annual cycle of redundancies has put enormous pressures on staff and made it very difficult for the school to provide the resources and the teaching it needs.
"Beyond these underlying issues, Ofsted highlights problems with governance and leadership. Here, AET had put in place a governing body to replace the previous management board, but this was found to be ineffective in monitoring and holding the school to account.  
"In line with current government advice, therefore, we replaced the governing body and reverted to a management board which has the professional experience and capability to scrutinise performance and to offer both challenge and support to the school's leadership.  
"The management board has already met, and will meet again before the end of term.  Meanwhile with regards to leadership, following the resignation of the principal and one vice-principal, a new and experienced leadership team is in place for September, and has already commenced work to take the school through the coming period of transition.
"Plans are in place to ensure Sandown Bay Academy is fully staffed for September and, with the support of the Trust, to ensure the school is successful in future HMI monitoring visits, and that all development areas identified in the report are addressed, in the interests of all the school's pupils. 
"This is the rationale and reasoning behind our proposals to amalgamate the Academy with its sister school, Ryde, where performance is improving and where there is a track record of leadership success and notable gains in the educational outcomes for pupils.  
"This proposal is currently subject to consultation, and any decision on Sandown Bay's future will be taken by ministers. Whatever that decision may be, AET undertakes to ensure it provides the support needed by the school through any period of transition, and to act on the recommendations of the Ofsted report."