Hundreds respond to school plans

Hundreds of people turned out to march in protest against the plans

More than 1,000 people have contacted the Isle of Wight Council over plans to overhaul the island's education system.

The reorganisation would mean the scrapping of the current three-tier system and the closure of more than 20 middle schools on the island.

The council argues change is needed to raise the "below-par education results" but hundreds of parents and children have demonstrated against the plans.

A public consultation has just ended and the results will now be analysed.

All the comments will be included in a report which will be presented to the the Isle of Wight Council on 24 November.

Until recently, the Isle of Wight sat in the bottom 10% for national GCSE results.

But in 2007, its ranking rose to 94 out of 148 local authorities.

Nearly a fifth - 17.5% - of its primary school places are empty.