Weston Academy

Weston Academy was an Isle of Wight primary school run by the Academies Enterprise Trust academy chain. It closed in 2015.

History

Previously called Weston Community Primary School, the school was located in Totland Bay in the far West of the Isle of Wight[1] The school has always been a small school with fewer than 100 pupils. In 2011 it was threatened with closure by the local authority and the National Secular Society (NSS) stepped in to ask for a reprieve[2]

In order to avoid closure by the local authority, the primary school became an academy with the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), becoming the first Primary Academy on the Isle of Wight.[3]

Weston had been graded as 'good' by OFSTED but as an AET academy the standards declined and it was graded as 'inadequate' (Special Measures) in 2015.[4]

Closure controversy

In October 2015 AET announced that it was closing the school due to "falling pupil numbers."[5] AET's reasons for closing the academy were publicly queried as it was stated that data showed pupil numbers were due to increase, not decline, and so it was claimed that AET was really closing the academy in order to save money.[6] Further investigations showed that there was also a critical report from the Department for Education in June 2015 which was alleged to have contributed to AET's highly unusual decision to close the academy so quickly in the middle of a school year at December 2015[7]

The last headteacher of Weston Primary School was Miss Rebecca Wood.[8]

References
  1. "AHDB Dairy Case Study". Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  2. "Community school saved from closure by gaining academy status". National Secular Society. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  3. Perry, Simon (19 October 2011). "Weston Community Primary School Gets Academy Status". On the Wight. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  4. "Ofsted brands Weston Academy Primary School inadequate". Isle of Wight County Press. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  5. "Closure of Isle of Wight Weston Primary School confirmed despite campaign". BBC. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  6. "AET challenged by action group over planned closure of Weston Academy". 13 October 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  7. "Weston Academy Action Group continue to question what led to closure plans for primary school". On the Wight. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  8. "Weston". Edubase 2. Department for Education.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.