Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

Trying to keep her children together, a Ryde mother of two is among a number of Island parents appealing the council’s placement of siblings at different schools.

Elaine Begg’s six-year-old son Josh has been thriving at Binstead Primary for the past three years.

Her younger son Thomas is currently at Stepping Stones, the Binstead pre-school, but for the coming year he was offered a place at Oakfield.

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Children from Niton Primary School who’ve been learning Mandarin will be amongst those greeting Chinese teachers and education officials when they arrive on the Isle of Wight tomorrow.

Members of the Carisbrooke High School Jazz Band will also be welcoming the contingent by creating a jazzy atmosphere when they arrive at Ryde Pier at around 7pm tomorrow evening.

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If you’re wondering when the school holidays on the Isle of Wight are for the rest of this year, here’s a handy summary for you.

Easter holiday
Last day of term is Thursday, 1st April (no joke!). School starts again on 19th April.
(Includes two bank holidays, 2nd and 5th April)

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Many thanks to Aimee for this update on support received for St Catherine’s. Ed

Acclaimed actor, screenwriter and director Julian Fellowes hosted a reception for St Catherine’s in London on Tuesday 2 March.

Julian, who won an Oscar in 2002 for Gosford Park, spoke about the importance of speech and communication in all our lives and the challenges children with communication disabilities face every single day.

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A VB reader contacted us this morning to let us know that at a meeting at Cowes High School today the staff were told that ten jobs would be lost by the end of the year.

We are in the process of checking this with the Isle of Wight council.

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A new exhibition starts at Dimbola Lodge this weekend, entitled Out of the Box.

The photographic exhibition is a collaboration between students at Medina High School and St George’s Special Needs School.

The theme of the exhibition celebrates creativity, encouraging the students to think ‘outside of the box’ and exploring the processes of the Camera Obscura.

It runs until the 11th April and more details can be found on Events on the Wight.

A consultation on the hard federation of Chillerton & Rookley, Godshill and Wroxall primaries is now in full swing, with public a meeting arranged near the end of the month.

Under the proposed changes to the schools system, the hard federation will mean that the three primary schools will be run under a single governing body.

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The 18th Annual IW Hedgelaying Competition returns next weekend, this year being hosted Mr and Mrs J Sheldon at Kings Manor Farm, Freshwater.

We’ve been going along to these events for a few years now and are always so impressed with the skill and dedication of those taking part.

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As part of National Student Volunteering Week, which takes place between 22 to 28 February this year, students from Isle of Wight College will be joining forces with YMCA Isle of Wight to help raise cash and awareness for Help2Grieve.

The hair and beauty students will be putting their new skills to good use at the ‘Make-over for All’ charity fundraiser.

YMCA Isle of Wight Volunteer Project Coordinator Kelly Matthews said “this event will give the college students a chance to show off their creative skills and bring members of society together in a common purpose.”

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A couple of weeks ago, rock legends The Pretty Things donned their best suits and joined the party at the Winter Gardens.

A collection of bands and a local DJ had the place suitably warmed up prior to The Pretty Things taking to the stage where they delivered, what we hear, was an amazing set.

The gig had been organised to raise cash for St Catherine’s School in Ventnor, one of the most high regarded special schools for young people with speech or communication difficulties.

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Details of new community learning courses have been announced with the release of new spring/summer programmes this week.

A variety of courses in the Bay area, Ventnor, Ryde, West Wight, Cowes and East Cowes and Newport are available to residents at very reasonable prices.

Develop your creativity with painting, pottery, felt making or jewellery classes.

Or perhaps you want to learn how to make willow bird houses or improve your ICT skills?

There’s something for everyone. To find out more visit the IW Community Learning Website.

We were amazed to hear a story today about how the quick thinking actions of three members of staff at Ryde High School managed to save the life of a student last November.

Sixteen year old Ethan Turner was getting stuck into a game of indoor football at Ryde High School when suddenly, without warning, his heart stopped beating.

Thanks to teacher Ian White who immediately spotted that Ethan was in trouble and to Melanie Thomas and School Matron, Linda Chalkley, Ethan was instantly given CPR while the ambulance was called.

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Following a resolution at last week’s Cabinet meeting, we learnt that new schools’ Project Director at the Isle of Wight Council, Janet Newton, will make the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) funding bid by the end of January.

Questions have in the past been posed as to whether the monies will be available from central Government to fund the alteration to school buildings that would be needed to implement the Isle of Wight Council’s reorganisation of the Island’s schools.

One of the main question marks was over the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) funding and if the current government would continue to fund BSF.

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It looks like a fly might have just fallen into the ointment for the creation of the new Rural Primary for the South Wight that was to be formed by amalgamating the current Chillerton & Rookley, Godshill and Wroxall schools.

At the end of the last Cabinet meeting, which VB covered live, we half-heard a half-explanation of something to do with the Schools Adjudicator and the Rural schools – sounds pretty vague, right? With a bit of follow-up on our part, it appears that we might have unearthed a story.

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If you’ve ever thought about being a sports coach or trainer but not really known how to go about it, one of the new courses being run by the Isle of Wight Council (IWC) should shine some light on the subject for you.

The courses are being run by Sports Coach UK and RunningSports with additional funding from the IWC using funds from Sport England meaning the courses will cost just £15 per person.

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Congratulations go to two Island schools today who we read in the County Press have made it into the latest edition of the Good Schools Guide.

If you haven’t previously heard of the Good Schools Guide, it does what it says in the title.

It’s a prestigious guide to what are considered the best schools across the UK, so for the two Island schools to be named is quite an accolade for not only themselves, but also the Island.

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Annual Hedgelaying Competition and longed to learn this fantastic ancient skill, then a new course being funded by the West Wight Landscape Partnership might be just what you’ve been waiting for.

If you’ve ever attended the At the beginning of February, just a few weeks before the annual competition, free training in the art of hedgelaying will be taking place at Dunsbury Farm in Brook.

The first day of training will be for novices or those with some experience of hedgelaying, whilst the second day will be a masterclass for the more experienced hedgelayer.

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Many thanks to VB friend and contributor, Wendy Varley for this roundup of the latest school league tables. Ed

The 2009 league tables for England secondary schools just published show the Island lying at 138 out of 150 local authorities for the percentage of pupils gaining five or more A*-C grade GCSEs including English and Maths (41.6% for the Isle of Wight compared to 50.7% for England). Last year it was 123rd.

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The Isle of Wight Council tell us that all schools are expected to open on Wednesday 13th January.

As many will already know, more snow and sleet is expected tonight, so do check back on VB in the morning to see if the weather conditions have affected this decision.

Last updated: 7:09am Tuesday

Having battled with updating the “are they open, are they closed” nature of school updates over the last week, we’ve decided to come up with another way of doing it.

It’s one that we hope you will find easier to understand too.

It works on a traffic light system. Green showing that the school will be open; Orange, that the decision on the school is Pending, or marked Expected to open. Red shows that it’s closed.

Hope you like it.

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Last updated 10:15am Monday

Here’s what we know currently about companies providing transport on the Island. Updates will occur as we hear more.

Information about the current state of the roads in available on the Isle of Wight Road Closures page.

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*** Later information on Monday’s buses now available. ***

We’ve received this update below from Southern Vectis with regard to the school bus provision on Monday.

We’re still awaiting details of which schools will be closed (expect to be update later this afternoon), but please note that all High Schools will be open for those taking exams tomorrow.

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Regular readers will remember that in October last year, Chale School were given a last chance to try to save their school from closure (as a result of the massive school reorganisation).

The Isle of Wight Council permitted them a two month period to put together a proposal for federation.

As many readers will be aware, the village have been battling hard to save their primary school, which they say will rip the heart out of the community if it is lost.

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Last updated 2.02pm Monday

Here’s the current state of play for the schools.
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Last updated 10:34am Friday

* all primary, middle schools and high schools closed Friday **

Decisions on school closures for tomorrow (Friday 8th) are starting to arrive now.

Check back and reload this page to see the latest version or check the VB Twitter stream (what’s Twitter?).

**No school services will operate on Friday 8 January 2010. Roads are still impassable on school routes at present.**

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