Standards Not Tiers

Who Are We...

The executive of Standards-Not-Tiers are from a diverse background of parents who simply want the best for the children of the Isle of Wight:

• Chris Welsford Chairman of the Group, financial adviser, coastguard, father of 4 children, one at each key stage. An ex-Labour Party branch secretary. B.Sc. Hons in Politics from Southampton University. Founding member of the group.
• Deborah Hart, Campaign Director, hotelier, mother of 2 children, one daughter at middle school and one at high school. Founding member of the group.
• Brenda Hart, Treasurer, hotelier, grandmother and a founding member of the group.  
• James Pickett, Executive Member, technical author, father of 3 children, two (thankfully) through the education system, but one just entered middle school. Apolitical - reads the Telegraph and the Observer
• Steve Stubbings Executive Member, father of four, community youth worker.
• David Straddling, Executive member, Retired Head Teacher
• Wendy Welsford, Executive and Founding Member of the Group, Teaching Assistant and and mother of four children, one at each key stage. B.Sc. Hons Social Sciences, Polytechnic of the South Bank, London.

SNT has more than 200 active supporters and is a member of the NASS, National Association for Small Schools and HSE, Human Scale Education. 

We have no political axe to grind. If the Liberal Democrats were supporting the retention of the existing system and the Conservatives were advocating a 2-tier authority we would still make the same arguments. Currently we believe that many Conservatives and members of the Island Labour Group will be disappointed by the Conservative Council's behaviour.

It is also important for people to realise that we are not defenders of the 3-tier system per se. It is change for the sake of change that we oppose. 2-tier and 3-tier systems can work equally well but they have to be tailored correctly and everyone has to work towards a common goal. We will support change that allows us to raise standards with the least disruption.

We firmly believe that it is NOT tiers that matter but how we manage them. We would like to see a system that allows each community to have the schools it wants based on the acknowledgement that small schools based in the local community are what society needs.