KCC agrees Sheppey needs another secondary school to take on Oasis Academy
Sheppey is to get another secondary school to rival the Oasis Academy in a radical shake-up of Island learning.
Education leaders hope the move will stop the exodus of more than 1,200 pupils a day - around 50% of Sheppey's student population - to schools in Sittingbourne.
In theory, Oasis has room for 1,950 across its two sites at Minster and Sheerness. With 2,120 Islanders needing non-selective education it should be bursting. But it isn't.
Meanwhile in Sittingbourne, the town has 3,825 non-selective school places and 3,244 children. There should be plenty of space but Islanders have taken up the slack as parents shun the Island academy which has been labelled as "requires improvement" by Ofsted.
The surprise move, welcomed by campaigners, was announced by Kent County Council during Swale council's Sheppey area committee at Minster Working Men's Club last week.
KCC revealed it had already begun searching for sites for the new school after Oasis, the only secondary provider on the Island, refused to hand over its Sheerness campus. It will also need to find another sponsor.
The surprise u-turn follows years of complaints from parents fed-up with having only one secondary school to send their children to. They ran a campaign demanding at least two, and possibly three, alternatives to foster competition. But KCC previously rejected the idea.
Now it says a new school could be operating within 18 months.
KCC's area education officer Marisa White told a packed hall on Tuesday: "One way around the problem was for Oasis to give us its smaller site so we could bring in another sponsor. They said they would not give up the site as it was part of their future plans so we are going to go the Department for Education to say a second secondary school and a second provider is needed for Sheppey."
In another surprise, both Swale's Labour leader Roger Truelove and Sittingbourne and Sheppey Conservative MP Gordon Henderson have joined forces to back the move.
Cllr Truelove said: "The way forward is for the MP and borough council to work together. Although education is not a Swale council responsibility we do have a responsibility to our residents. The fact that 50% choose to go off the Island for their education is not good for the Island."
He stressed: "This isn't about blaming anyone. It is about going forward. There must be more than one provider on Sheppey so there is a choice of school."
The huge number of pupils being bussed off the Island every day - more than 1,200 - is putting a heavy strain on Sittingbourne schools which now don't have enough spaces for Sittingbourne children who are being sent to Sheppey, sometimes against their wishes. This September, 70 pupils were allocated places at Oasis.
Cllr Truelove added: "School places are not the only issue. The long-term low academic outcomes at the academy on Sheppey are another concern. It obviously motivates the daily migration to Sittingbourne and leaves many young people low on skills and aspirations."
He said the council would support one of the schools having a "strong vocational bias" with close links to Sheppey College.
MP Mr Henderson said: "I have long believed part of the solution is to provide Sheppey's parents with a choice in non-selective schools in the same way Sittingbourne parents have the choice between Fulston Manor, The Sittingbourne School and Westlands.
"I believe we are better able to achieve that by borough and county councillors working together across party political lines with council officers, the Department for Education and the regional schools commissioner to put together a strategy."
He added: "The irony is that this year, for the first time since the Isle of Sheppey Academy was built at a cost of £54m the school is full. However, that is because many children from Sittingbourne have been allocated places there because there are no places on the mainland."
Education campaigner Tony Batchelor, former secretary of the Sheppey Parents Action Group (Spag), said it was "the best news I have heard in more than 10 years."
He said: "Parents have always wanted a choice and if KCC keep their word it looks as if they are now likely to get it. The fact that it has taken KCC so long to come to the conclusion that Island parents reached 12 years ago is a tragic loss for the hundreds of students who have already passed through the educational system. However, better late than never, and we must applaud this decision.
"The community must now work with the new additional provider to ensure that both schools work together to give the Island children the education system they deserve. Hurray for common sense!"
KCC says it has approached Homes England with a view to using former industrial land it is redeveloping land at Rushenden. But it says the old abandoned Halfway Houses primary school could be used temporarily. It says it welcomes other suggestions.
Pressure on school places in Sittingbourne has become more critical since plans for an overflow school at Kemsley were put on hold. According to KCC, the developer is refusing to release land until it can begin building houses.
Under strict planning conditions, work cannot start until the A249 junctions at Grovehurst and Stockbury are upgraded. It had been hoped the school would be open by now. It could now be 2028.
Sheppey's educational woes began more than 50 years ago when KCC demolished the Island's two technical and two secondary modern schools and replaced them with one large coeducational comprehensive - The Sheppey School or 'Comp' - in 1970 while leaving Sittingbourne as a selective area with two grammar schools.
It also introduced middle schools, later abandoned, to the Island which took pupils from nine to 13 while the rest of Kent remained a two-tier system.
Swale councillor Peter MacDonald said: "People took their eye off the ball. Sheppey had four good secondary schools including a world-leading technical school. There was a cross-flow with pupils from Sittingbourne coming to the Tech. We need a new technical school."
Eastchurch parish councillor Mike Brown said: "This seems like deja-vu. We put forward plans for three secondary schools for Sheppey 11 years ago but they were rudely thrown out by KCC. Since then there have been six head teachers at the academy in 11 years."
The latest, Tina Lee, resigned in the summer break and has been replaced by Andy Booth.
Swale councillor Ken Ingleton (Con, Minster Cliffs), himself an old 'Tech Boy' and who was chairing the meeting, said: "I used to be so proud to say I was educated on Sheppey. Now I am ashamed. We have some outstanding children on the Island but the only thing which lets them down is our secondary education. We need something done now."
Sheppey has 2,120 children of school age who need non-selective education. The Oasis Academy has 1,950 places across its two sites and should be packed. It celebrated its largest intake for many years this September.
Sittingbourne has 3,244 children and 3,825 non-selective school places so there should be ample space. But Islanders now take up many desks. A fleet of buses take pupils on and off the Island every day.
Figures also reveal that Island pupils are being left behind when it comes to taking the Kent Test - the equivalent of the 11-plus. Only 14% who took the test reached the pass mark compared with an average of 25% across the county.
