Councillor Dave Stewart

Leader of the Council and Executive Member for

Strategic Partnerships
County Hall
High Street
Newport
Secretary of State for Education Isle of Wight
PO30 1UD
Via email - ministers@education.gov.uk
Tel (01983) 821000
Email david.stewart@iow.gov.uk
DX 56361 Newport (Isle of Wight)
Web www.iwight.com

26 May 2017

Dear Secretary of State

Re: Academies Enterprise Trust

I am sure that it will have been brought to your attention that Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) has
announced their intention to close Sandown Bay Academy on the Isle of Wight. The academy currently has
around 1,000 students on roll and numbers of students of secondary age within the locality are set to
increase slightly over the next few years. The rationale for the closure appears to be financial with AET
claiming that they would like to move the students to Ryde Academy which they also lead. Ryde Academy is
six miles away from Sandown and, given that the route is necessarily through rural roads, will take the best
part of an hour in additional travel time for pupils.

Members of the Isle of Wight Council were appalled that AET announced this plan without any dialogue with
officers at the Council. The proposal makes little sense in terms of place planning as the population of the
Sandown area clearly warrants a secondary school. The argument around financial viability would appear to
be weak as there are hundreds of secondary schools across the country that are perfectly viable with 1,000
students on roll. One is forced to wonder why AET cannot run a viable school with a 1,000 students when
many other academies and local authorities clearly can and do. In addition, were the plan to proceed the
Local Authority would become liable for an additional home to school transport bill of around 1 million per
year, a sum that could be put to far better use in improving services for children on the Island.

Academies Enterprise Trust already has a poor reputation on the Island. They originally sponsored three
schools but closed Weston Primary after they had led that to failure at an Ofsted inspection. Both of their
secondary schools have relatively low attainment. There are positive signs that Ryde Academy is now
improving but we believe that is down to the appointment of a strong headteacher rather than the actions of
the sponsor. Sandown Bay Academy remains weak after being sponsored by AET for over five years.
Performance is currently below the Governments minimum floor standard.

The Isle of Wight Council discussed the situation at Sandown at a Council meeting on Wednesday 17 May
2017 and unanimously supported the attached motion. As a council we have no confidence in the ability of
AET to provide the high quality secondary education our children deserve on the Island and we would
welcome your intervention to work with officers and the Regional Schools Commissioner to put in place
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alternative arrangements to lead both Ryde Academy and Sandown Bay Academy. It is the view of the Isle
of Wight Council that AET has let down our children for too long.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Dave Stewart

Leader and Executive Member for Strategic Partnerships