School place planning timeline
Update: Arreton St George’s CE Primary School – Schools Adjudicator Decision
On Monday 23 June 2025, the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) announced its decision to reject the Isle of Wight Council’s Cabinet decision (made on 20 March 2025) to close Arreton St George’s CE Primary School.
As a result, the school will remain open in September 2025 and will not close at the end of this academic year.
The council accepts the findings of the adjudicator and will carefully consider all the points raised in the report. Once published, the full decision will be available on the OSA website.
We understand that the school place planning process has been challenging for many, and we recognise that this decision will be welcomed by the Arreton St George’s CE school community.
The council will share further information about the implications of this decision as soon as it is available.
What timeframe do we work to?
We work to this timeframe for reporting, decision making and implementation of decisions.
- Report approved by Cabinet on the 12 September 2024 seeking approval to commence Stage 1 of the statutory consultation process, identifying schools for amendment, closure or expansion. This included the Special Education Needs (SEND) expansion programme.
- 6 week statutory consultation (4 weeks of term-time)
- Report to Cabinet 12 December noting the outcomes of consultation and seeking authority to commence Stage 2 of the statutory consultation process and publish final closure notices.
- 4 week statutory consultation starting 3 January 2025 to 3 February 2025 (4 weeks of term-time)
- Report to Cabinet on Thursday 6 March 2025
- Decision deferred until Thursday 20 March 2025
- Cabinet decision 20 March 2025
Proposed closure of Arreton St George’s CE Primary School - approved
The Bay CE School – 12 Place Primary Resourced Provision - approved
Proposed closure of Brading CE Primary School - not approved
Proposed closure of Wroxall Primary School - not approved
Proposed closure of Oakfield CE Primary School - not approved
Proposed closure of Cowes Primary School - approved
Cabinet decision paper - 20 March 2025
- Support measures for school closures
- Implement closures by 31 August 2025 and SEND Expansion plans by December 2025
School area meetings
School area meetings were held for the school community to hear from Council officers and to ask questions. Due to limited capacity within school halls, parents were prioritised. If further seating was available the wider community were welcome to attend.
Cowes Primary
Meeting held Monday, 23 September 2024, 5.30pm to 7pm
Arreton CE Primary
Meeting held Wednesday, 25 September 2024, 5.30pm to 7pm
Oakfield CE Primary
Meeting held Thursday, 26 September 2024, 5.30pm to 7pm
Wroxall Primary
Meeting held Monday, 30 September 2024, 5.30pm to 7pm
Godshill Primary
Meeting held Wednesday, 2 October 2024, 5.30pm to 7pm
Brading CE Primary
Meeting held Thursday, 3 October 2024, 5.30pm to 7pm
Separate meetings are held with teaching staff.
If you need the meeting documents in a different format, please email the service.
Freedom of Information: School Place Planning
If you're looking for information about school place planning, including questions and responses under the Freedom of Information Act, please visit our Transparency section. This is where we publish all FOI requests and replies, so everyone can access the same information in one place. It helps keep things open, fair, and easy to find.