THREE schools on the Isle of Wight that had been slated for closure is not going to be shut this summer, it was selected Thursday, in a choice welcomed by the diocese of Portsmouth.
The diocese’s director of education, Jeff Williams, said that the choice by the Isle of Wight Council “demonstrated that councillors have listened to our repeated concerns”.
Of five schools on the island that had been scheduled for closure, three were spared in a vote by the council’s cabinet. Two of those three are C of E schools.
Two other schools — Arreton St George’s C of E Primary School and Cowes Primary School — are still attributable to close this summer, with the council citing an excess of faculty places on the Isle of Wight.
Mr Williams said that the diocese remained “concerned regarding the method that led to the selections”, and could be taking legal advice.
Further schools, perhaps including those spared on Thursday, may additionally be closed sooner or later, because the Council intends to restart the technique of evaluating its education provision, BBC News reported.
The meeting at which the cupboard voted not to shut Brading C of E, Oakfield C of E, and Wroxall primary schools was watched online by greater than 300 people, and got here a day after the surprise resignation of the councillor who had been answerable for education, Jonathan Bacon.
In February, the diocese sent a “letter before claim” to the council, setting out its opposition to the plans ahead of possible legal proceedings (News, 25 February).
The Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Revd Jonathan Frost, had previously urged council leaders to maintain the C of E schools open, speaking of their “vital and distinctive” contribution (News, 8 November 2024).
In a press release last month, Mr Williams said the method by which the colleges had been chosen for closure had been “flawed from the beginning”.
“The reasons the council have given for college closures have been unclear, inconsistent, and risk doing further damage to communities which have already been hit hard by these ill-informed plans,” he said.
