ISLE of Wight politicians have hit out against plans published by the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) to close Sandown Bay Academy.
Under AET’s plan, Sandown Bay Academy would close down and students would have to travel to Ryde Academy.
Dave Stewart, leader of the Isle of Wight Council, said: “We remain determined to do all we can to secure the continued provision of secondary education in Sandown.
“Next week, we will be launching a consultation with the community on two options for doing this.
“One would be to find a new academy operator to replace AET. The other would be to support the governors of The Bay Primary School in changing their admission criteria so that in effect we have one, all-through, 4 -16 or 4 -18 school in Sandown, providing education on the two sites just as at present.
“The leadership team of The Bay Primary School have already demonstrated a solid track record of delivering school improvement and good outcomes for students, so this is a very attractive option.”
Julian Critchley, the Labour parliamentary candidate, wrote to head teachers of all local schools likely to be affected by the closure, asking them to oppose AET's closure plans.
Mr Critchley said: “Labour remains committed to keeping Sandown Bay Academy open and whatever happens locally and nationally this week I will continue to fight these plans — our children’s educational futures depend on it.”
A public consultation on the issue will be launched on Monday, June 12, and will involve a series of public meetings at which pupils, parents, school staff and the wider local community will be invited to share their views on the proposals.
An online survey can be found here.