A conference aiming to raise primary school literacy will be held on the Island this week.
All Isle of Wight primary school head teachers have been invited to attend alongside officials from the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofsted. Also in attendance will be representatives from Springhill Catholic Primary School in Southampton which has been appointed as one of the DfE’s 34 English Hub schools across England.
In this role, Springhill supports schools, including 11 on the Island, to deliver excellent early language and phonics teaching in reception and Key Stage 1. It is hoped that following the conference, more schools on the Island will take up the offer of support.
The conference was organised following conversations between Island MP Bob Seely and Schools Minister Nick Gibb.
Mr Seely said: “Firstly, I want to thank all Island teachers for the exceptionally important job that they do.
“Secondly, I hope that primary school head teachers will be able to attend the conference.
“Thanks to phonics teaching in UK schools, England now has the fourth best reading standards in the world. I want to do what I can to make sure that Island kids’ reading standards are as good, if not better, than those across the country and that there is a programme in place for our teachers on the Island.
“The Government has accepted my argument that the Island needs its own English Hub centre of excellence in future. This is to ensure that best practice can be shared throughout Island schools. We are going to work towards that.”
The conference is being funded by the DfE with head teachers attending able to claim for backfill and travel costs.
The DfE is also seeking educational improvement by encouraging high-quality multi-academy trusts (MATs), currently based on the mainland, to take on schools on the Island. Carisbrooke and Medina colleges have recently joined the HISP Multi Academy Trust - a regional trust - to give increased local focus to improve educational standards.
The department says with the addition of these two Island colleges, HISP will have more resource to invest into the range of offers on the Island.
