School place planning
What is School Place Planning?
The Isle of Wight Council has a statutory duty to ensure the sufficiency of school places for children living on the Isle of Wight.
The Isle of Wight Corporate Plan states that the Council will work with local communities to maintain and ensure appropriate local school provision.
School place planning requires attention to all of the factors that will influence pupil numbers and also the factors that influence the abilities of schools to thrive.
This is part of the Isle of Wight Education Strategy.
Read the documents being considered by Cabinet on Thursday 18 July 2024 at 5pm
What we think about when planning school places
- where the children who attend the school live
- whether the children that attend a faith school do so because of its denomination
- financial viability
- transport implications
- environment implications
- quality of provision
- number of pupils choosing to attend the school
- fabric of the building
- Department for Education guidance about rural schools
- pupil movement
- local housing building
- diversity (faith schools)
- factors that arise during a consultation process
- Federation/Academisation - nearly half of Isle of Wight primary schools already share leadership, most share part time staff or have staff that also work in other schools
Why do we need to take action?
- we have an opportunity to implement change across the Island’s education system
- the birth rate both nationally and on the Isle of Wight have dramatically declined meaning fewer children will be entering the school system. This number is likely to decline from 1404 in September 2018 to 920 in September 2027, a third less.
- we have 1898 vacant primary school places
- by March 2026, it is forecast that 22 Primary Schools will be in budget deficit. Primary school deficits are estimated to be a cumulative £7.4m and pose a significant financial risk to the Isle of Wight Council and ultimately the provision of education our children and young people living on the Isle of Wight receive.
- as surplus numbers increase over the coming years schools will be faced with ever greater financial challenges
- reduced ability to offer a wide, quality, and varied curriculum impacting school standards
- parents, carers, staff, and pupils would face uncertainty around the availability and quality of the educational offer
What is the financial impact of surplus school places?
- the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 requires local authorities to have a Scheme for Financing Schools
- the scheme drives the requirements of schools in managing their deficits and the LA role relates to adherence to the scheme only, as it has no power to write off or contribute towards individual school deficits
- most schools on the Island are raising concerns about the ability to set balanced budgets in coming years
- in a recent consultation with mainstream schools on school funding, most respondents emphasised concerns around the overall quantum of funding not being sufficient to meet current costs, in particular pressures around support staff pay and cost of supporting children with education and healthcare plans
- maintained schools and academies receive the same funding from the Department for Education
- When the overall pupil numbers in an area reduce, the local funding allocation is reduced on a per pupil basis
- when schools are required to become (sponsored) academies, this results in deficits falling to the local authority
- when a maintained school closes, any deficit balances fall to the local authority and therefore surplus capacity increases the risk of inefficient schools and potentially increased deficits, impacting local authority budgets available for wider council services.
What is the educational outcome impact of surplus school places?
Every child growing up on the Isle of Wight deserves access to a high-quality education, whatever their needs and circumstances. Education empowers children with the knowledge, skills and critical thinking abilities that are necessary for personal development.
The Isle of Wight has consistently underperformed in comparison to national trends and currently sits in the bottom 10% of local authorities for key performance indicators. This unchanging picture requires action, to ensure a brighter future for children and young people across the Island. Previous efforts have not secured substantial or sustained improvement to the system, new methodologies, strategies and approaches are required to ensure that standards on the Isle of Wight meet and exceed national achievement across all measures in the education landscape. Isle of Wight headteachers have shared with us that in small schools with few staff, it is very difficult to spare teacher time to commit to undertake and embed the training required to deliver a broad curriculum that leads to excellent outcomes for children
Teachers may have to teach mixed age or stage classes, causing additional workload, stress and wider differentiation for the pupils. This not only effects teacher well-being and mental health but affects standards as with a variety of breath and ages within one class, pupils cannot receive the tailored support they need to thrive and achieve. Teachers struggle to cater for the range of academic needs within one class. Secondary schools continue to improve relative to other local authorities nationally.
Share your views
We want to hear your views on school place planning. We would also like to hear what you think children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities need from their learning environment.
What happens next?
We work to this timeframe for reporting, decision making and implementation of decisions.
Report to be considered by Cabinet on the 18 July 2024
The report will seek to approve the publication of the draft school place planning strategy and agree to proceed with reviewing the level of surplus places, and increases to special educational needs provision, to support improved education standards within the context of the emerging Education Strategy.
Report to be considered by Cabinet on the 12 September 2024
The report will seek approval to commence Stage 1 of the statutory consultation process, identifying schools for amendment, closure or expansion. This will include the Special Education Needs (SEND) expansion programme.
6 week statutory public consultation - stage 1
Public have the opportunity to comment on the report. 4 weeks of the consultation is during school term-time.
Report to Cabinet December/January
Report will note the outcomes of consultation and seek authority to commence stage 2 of the statutory consultation process and publish final closure notices.
6 week statutory public consultation - stage 2
Public have the opportunity to comment on the report. 4 weeks of the consultation is during school term-time.
March to August 2025
Report will define implementation of closures by 31 August 2025 and SEND Expansion plans by December 2025.
Planning and implementation of closures by 31 August 2025 and SEND Expansion plans by December 2025
Secondary school place planning areas
The map shows the areas that are considered as part of secondary school place planning, indicated by blue outlines.
Primary school place planning areas
The map shows the areas that are considered as part of primary school place planning, indicated by indicated by blue outlines. The dark grey triangles showing locations of current primary schools.
