Bob Seely MP said: “I spoke to senior officials from the Department for Education yesterday about my continued concerns over what the Alliance Councillors are doing on the Island and the damage to primary school education as well as education overall.
“The council is meeting with education officials today. It’s an important meeting and I expect councillors to outline a programme of action that meets the concerns of teachers on the Island.
“I've outlined my four areas of concern to the Department for Education:
“1. The refusal of the Local Authority to take advice from teachers in relation to surplus primary school places.
“2. The termination of the Local Authority’s relationship with Hampshire County Council.
“3. The increasing number of pupils on the Isle of Wight receiving Elective Home Education.
“4. Local engagement with phonics funding and support.
“I intend to keep monitoring the situation until there is evidence that they are finally tackling the problem. Councillors need to focus on school place planning and we need to ensure that all schools have in place a phonics programme. I want reassurance that we are capable of running primary education on the Island ourselves.
“The Department for Education has assured me they will be closely monitoring Councillors’ actions. I will make sure they do.
“As ever I’m happy to support the Council and Councillors. But they need to be doing the right thing.
“Councillors running the Isle of Wight Council must raise their game”.
