Ofsted, the education watchdog, said that the Five Islands School was no longer ‘failing’. Parents and teachers are obviously very pleased with the news. Headteacher John Evans has been at the School for only two years, but had managed to make “good progress” in the school.
The education of younger children has been given a glowing Ofsted report.
The officials inspected St Mary?s Pre School Playgroup, Sunny Days Nursery, Scilly Tots and Dawn Davison?s childminding service.
All sections came out with glowing reports. The inspectors rate the services as good, satisfactory and unsatisfactory.
Playgroup and Dawn Davison were rated as Good and Sunny Days and Scilly Tots received Satisfactory.
The groups were especially complimented for providing interesting and stimulating learning environments and for creating safe and hygienic spaces for children to play and learn in.
The staff were also praised for having good relationships with island parents and for being supportive and caring to children.
The management and leadership of the settings were reported as generally good.
Standards of numeracy and literacy were praised in all of the groups.
The Ofsted reports of the four independent providers highlighted the commitment and progress being made.
A new website has been set up by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly area child protection committee.
It can be found at www.cornwallchildprotection.org.uk.
It?s been created for children and their families. It can be used as a resource for helping to children who are vulnerable to abuse and neglect.
Picture: George Kershaw
A vital education source is to be scrapped on Scilly. The learning centres, which are situated on all populated islands, will be closing at the end of the month.
Funding from Europe came to an end in June and there weren?t sufficient funds from central government to keep them going.
Life Long Learning Officer Lesley Hopkins described it as a “sad day”.
“We would like to thank each community for making this facility available to us. More importantly, we would like to give a big thank you to all the learning Assistants, who have over the past four years made the learning experience enjoyable and so very successful.”
Life Long Learning under the guise of ?Adult Community Learning? is still able to offer ICT learning. Distant learning courses can be taken at home, where learning material is offered and tutor led courses at NVQ level 1 and 2 at Carn Thomas.
There will be a course coordinator who will act as a distance learning tutor for all the islands. This person will be available at the end of the phone, or e mail, to help students with all their queries.
The learning centres became a valuable resource on the islands for islanders and visitors alike.
Kristine Taylor from Bryher told Scilly News that it would be “a sad loss for Bryher.”
Picture: Scilly Webcam
The weather might be cold outside but school goers on Scilly are turning up the heat. Children on the St Mary?s have swapped recorders and keyboards for something a little more tropical.
A selection of steel drums have been sent to the Five Islands School by a Penzance based company “pantech”. The idea was inspired by Cape Cornwall?s large and successful steel band “Hammered Steel”.
Education spokesman Joel Williams told Scilly News ?I hope we can find funding to send our groups over to their band and have some of their people over here to play so we can form a musical partnership.?
?The drums have been very successful so far with the school using them a lot.?
It?s not just school children who are having a go an adults evening class is on the way. The playgroup have also swapped crayons for drumsticks and taken a turn.
Joel went on to say ?I think the sound created by the drums is really suited to the islands relaxed atmosphere and enables all people in the community to try a different type of music making experience.?
Around sixty irate islanders turned up on Wednesday for the debate on the controversial proposed council tax rise.
The meeting kicked off with a half an hour presentation explaining the mechanics of council tax, what the Authority receives from central government and how council tax is collected.
St Marys? Gordon Bilsborough, who last week criticised the rise to Scilly News, suggested an alternative recommendation of 4.9%, using more money from council reserves. While councillors argued that they had tried that for a number of years and the result was a 25% increase.
One member of the public did add that the proposed increase is still more to pay than pension or pay increases will be and with these sort of rises every year people will eventually run out of money.
Other topics that were discussed in the meeting were the fact that the tax is based on band “D” houses whereas most properties on Scilly are in a higher band. This means that council tax on Scilly is unfair. This was brought up with the Deputy Prime Minister?s Office but the Council were told “The formula will not be altered to suit individual councils.”
Cllr Steve Whomersley suggested “All the community need to be having this argument with central government, not arguing amongst ourselves.”
Much of the meeting was dominated with a discussion on the huge drain that the school puts on Scilly?s economy. Election candidate Rick Barrowman demanded that the Authority lacks the breadth of experience to operate as an LEA and should contract the whole education service out to another authority.
“At the last Education Committee meeting, Head teacher John Evans said he would be ?200,000 short of the balanced budget. The school is the biggest drain on this Authority?s money. After the frankly appalling Ofsted report, are other councillors going to embrace a complete contracting out as favoured by the Dfes, as the only way to get needs based funding for the school.”
Head teacher John Evans argued that it was doing a disservice to the young people of this island to say the school was a disaster.
“The Ofsted report did not make easy reading but I have read hundreds and if it were that bad this school would have been taken over by the Government.”
“Funding is a problem but it is not insurmountable and going elsewhere is not the answer.”
He went on to say he did not have as much experience as the Treasurer about Council tax but “I have 26 years experience as a Head teacher and no one can beat me in this room on education funding.”
Councillor Christine Savill added: “The Ofsted report wasn?t comforting to any of us. Improvements have to be made within the LEA. The Chairman, Chief Executive and Treasurer went to London recently and were reassured that the overall running would be retained on Scilly. There is a high probability that we will enter into a contract with an outside authority but Members have not yet made a decision.”
Referring back to the main issue of paying Council Tax she said: “None of us like to pay taxes. The 25% rise last year was very uncomfortable for Members and Officers to decide and we can understand the anger and frustration in the community.” But she asked people to think about whether they want highs and lows more than a steady reliable increase.
The Chairman of the Council, Dudley Mumford, said that all local authorities have been asked by the Government to give their views on an alternative method of local taxation and as part of that process the Council would like Scillonians comments on alternatives.
A leaflet Council Tax- What next for the Isles of Scilly? Was given out at the meeting, which suggests some alternatives.
The final decision will be decided at Full Council on 9th March
Have you bring up with Parliament but don?t know how? Scillonians are now being offered the chance to advise the politicians how to connect better with the public.
Scilly?s MP Andrew George has been encouraging residents get involved in a consultation that will make suggestions on how Parliament can better connect with the public.
The consultation is part of the Tell Parliament project, will be run online and will cover issues such as how Parliament could better reflect public concerns and be made more accessible to citizens.
The comments made will be fed directly to an influential cross-party group of MPs who are carrying out an investigation called Connecting Parliament with the Public.
The group is chaired by the Leader of the House of Commons - Rt. Hon Peter Hain MP - and is keen to hear the views of the people of Scilly on how Parliament can be reformed.
St Ives Constituency MP, Andrew George, told Scilly News:
“I know that many constituents are understandably cynical of politicians and of Parliament. But the House of Commons is the people?s parliament. The alternative would be dictatorship.
“The question then is not - how awful are politicians? I mean, that would take the public forever to answer fully. No. It?s, ?How can Parliament be improved to make it more useful and accessible??
“The key issues being discussed in this consultation are hugely important to democracy: access, communication and understanding of Parliament. I would really encourage local people to join in the discussion - it is your Parliament, so make sure you have your say. This is the first time that members of the public can tell politicians how they feel about the place I work in, so I will be really interested to hear your suggestions!”
To access the consultation go to www.tellparliament.net/modernisation
Isles of Scilly MP Andrew George is to lead a delegation to meet Schools Minister David Miliband MP, to discuss the schools funding crisis.
The meeting is due to take place on 2nd March at the Department for Education and Skills in London. It follows the Minister?s recent announcement that Cornwall has failed in its bid for the Building Schools for the Future funding, which would have provided major investment and new buildings in at least 8 schools.
In April 2003, Mr George led a Commons debate on education funding in Cornwall following the local authorities? budget setting process, which led to cuts in staff and increased class sizes. In September last year Mr George led a second debate to follow up the issues but they have still not been resolved.
The West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly MP has continued to receive correspondence from schools and worried parents in his constituency, concerned about growing class sizes, teacher redundancies and school budgets going into the red.
Commenting to Scilly News Mr George said:?It is disappointing that, almost a year after I first brought this matter to the attention of Education Minister David Miliband, schools in Cornwall still find themselves in a severe difficulty.
?I hope the Minister will give us some crumbs of comfort. After all, at a time when the Minister and his Department have been trumpeting record investment schools in my constituency began the new academic year with fewer teachers, larger classes and severely depleted reserves.
?The funding deficit is despite the fact that Cornwall County Council ?passported? all the money they were given by the Government for the purpose, and more.
?Once again I am going to have to ask a Minister what schools are supposed to do when they are faced with diminishing budgets. I hope that this time my concerns, along with those of parents and teachers up and down the country, will be met with action not words by a Government that has always claimed its priority was education, education, education.?
Isles of Scilly students could be some of the worst hit with the new top up fees. That?s according to Isles of Scilly MP.
Andrew George is encouraging constituents to contact him to help him put pressure against Government plans for student “top-up” fees in the run up to a critical Commons vote on 27th January.
The MP is asking Scillonian students to sign a petition at www.scraptuitionfees.com or to write to him directly.
The new proposals mean that graduates could be left with a debt of around ?30,000 at the end of their studies.
One Scillonian that already knows the financial problems of going to University is Rosi Taylor from Bryher. She is in her final year at Nottingham University doing a History degree. Already this has left her with a debt of ?12,000. She thinks that if top up fees had been introduced when she was at college she would have “seriously had to consider whether she could afford to go to university.”
Andrew George told Scilly News ?I would ask anyone, whether they are a concerned parent or a student, wanting to support our campaign to scrap tuition fees to go to sign the petition or write to me to request a form, to show the Government their plans are simply unacceptable.”
“Given the level of support for our proposals, even on Labour backbenches, I believe that this is a campaign we have a real chance of winning ? so let?s turn up the temperature.”
“Like so many people in my constituency, I am very concerned about proposals to raise higher tuition fees. The so-called ?concessions? proposed by the Government in an effort to get their Bill through would still leave students with debts of around ?24,000 which would take the average student 14 years to pay off.”
“Universities are right to demand more money but that should come out of general taxation and then only from the super-rich. After all, 82% of those earning over ?100,000 are graduates. Higher education benefits the country as a whole and should be available to everyone who has the qualifications to go, rather than becoming the preserve of those who can afford to pay the fees.”
?Above all debts will discourage many of our youngsters from ever attending university. It also adds pressure to parents who want to help their children go to college but, like so many in Cornwall just don?t have that kind of money.?
The Isles of Scilly Local education Authority has top the League tables.
The tables revealed that 87.5% of students got five or more good GCSE grades last year.
They also showed a very low absentee rate with only 0.7% half day sessions lost through unauthorised absence.
Lesley Hopkins a governer for the school told Scilly News “After so much gloom and despondency over education on the islands, howpleasing that we have topped the league tables. A tribute to the good teaching in the school. I am sure our present year 11 will wish to gainan even higher percentage level.”
The tables were published on Thursday.