Sheerness - Education

Education

Further information: List of schools in Kent

Until September 2009, The Isle of Sheppey was the only area in Kent to still have a middle school system. On the island, primary schools taught pupils from ages 4–9, middle schools from ages 9–13 and secondary schools from ages 13–18. Minster College in the neighbouring town of Minster was the only secondary school on the island. Sheerness had one middle school, Isle of sheppey Academy, with 800 pupils, although Danley Middle School and St George's Middle School were found in Halfway and Minster, respectively. In 2006, the Cheyne Middle School's Key Stage 2 performance ranked 322nd out of Kent's 386 primary and middle schools. The town's primary schools are Richmond First School, Rose Street Primary School, St Edward's Roman Catholic Primary School (ages 4–11) and West Minster Primary School. Sheppey College, in Sheerness, is a branch of Canterbury College that provides a range of further education courses.

On the 1st September 2009, Cheyne Middle school and Minster College merged to become The Isle of Sheppey Academy. Danley Middle school close and St George's Middle School changed into a primary school with a £3m fund, and Richmond First School now houses an extra year of students. This change was to bring the Island up to date with the rest of the UK with the two-tier system (Primary school, and then secondary school). Respectively, The Isle of Sheppey Academy now ranges from students of year 6 - 11, as well as housing the Island's 6th form students.

For a while nobody was sure whether or not the plans for the Academy would go ahead, after the news that the current Government was scrapping Labour's 'Building Schools for the Future' scheme. For weeks Students, Teachers and Staff and Parents waited to hear whether or not the Academy would be built, and after much pressure on the Government from our local MP Gordon Henderson, it was announced that the Academy would receive the full £56 million funding and the go-ahead for all building to take place. Building for the Isle of Sheppey Academy is now expected to start within the first few months of 2011.

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