by Sam Todd

Created on: May 27, 2008   Last Updated: May 28, 2008

It's crunch time for many students across the country as the exam season gets into full swing. This is particularly true of the Isle of Wight, where the future direction of education on the Island has been under close examination.

Come the end of examinations in August, some will be waiting in anticipation for their GCSE and A-Level results, others will be hoping for a reasonable outcome, and the odd one or two may not care either way. I speak from a position of recent experience, having sat my final A-Levels two years ago, luckily for me with a favourable conclusion.

Though I doubt very much whether they would be thinking about the changes to the education system on the Island at this moment, after another excruciating round of Shakespeare, the issue would understandably leave a dark cloud hovering above students and teachers.

Under the final school reform plans recently announced by the Isle of Wight Council, which will go before the cabinet on June 3, three primary schools - St Helens Primary, Chale CE Primary, and Weston Primary School - will close completely and 15 others will no longer exist on their current sites will all close, while others will amalgamate on to existing primary or middle school sites. By September 2010 there will be 38 primary schools and six high schools in total.

Primaries including Broadlea, Haylands and Oakfield, as well as the three faith schools in Ventnor, are among the nine which will leave their current sites to move on to middle school sites. St John's CE Primary, in Sandown, will close and merge with Sandown CE Primary on the Sandown CE site, while Yarmouth will operate on Shalfleet's site. Wroxall, Godshill and Chillerton and Rookley will also merge to form one new school over two existing sites at Godshill and Wroxall.

All in all, twenty-two primaries will continue to run on their existing sites and all 16 middle schools will close to create a two-tier system, whilst Forelands Middle School and Nodehill Middle School are currently the only middle school sites which will have no use after their closure.

Let's take a look ahead to September 2010. Though primary schools, the most successful aspect of our education system if the consistent praise of OFSTED is anything to go by, will still be heavily reduced, lets assume the new system will see an improvement in results, though statistically speaking, this is already happening with the Island now 94 out of 148 local authorities, a small but significant development.

For the sake of argument, should they get into the top 50%, will the council and the relevant education authorities praise the infrastructure of the system and dedication put in by students and teachers? Or will they press the panic button and attribute better results to dumbed-down courses and easier exams, like everyone else does every August?

Perhaps I'm being overtly cynical here, but unless the change in the system results in a better understanding and attitude from top brass, then what is the point of altering things? For what it's worth, I'm in favour of a two-tier system, since it will allow greater flexibility with the rest of the UK who traditionally have this structure, though not at the expense of some primary schools.

But all local authorities are looking to improve, not just the Isle of Wight. I hope the Council aren't ignorant enough to ignore this basic detail. Otherwise, when they receive their end of term results in May 2009, a 'fail' may well be on the cards.

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