Since having a son in April, I’ve started to understand more fully some of the issues I’ve heard parents complain about throughout the years — unsolicited advice from strangers in the supermarket, distant relatives that are overly affectionate despite having a sniffle, and, of course, school places.

I wasn’t able to enrol him in our pre-school of choice for when he turns two as they were full and, in fairness, the pregnant mums looking around at the same time we were visiting with a four-month old should have counted as a warning that we were a little late in signing up.

I was surprised at how much it bothered me. 

It’s not that other preschools in the area are not up to scratch or that I believe he will get a significantly higher level of care at my chosen spot, but it is where my siblings and I went as youngsters and is simply where I imagined my children would go. It’s what I had pictured and planned for.

I therefore cannot imagine what it feels like to be one of the hundreds of parents across the Island at the moment who are unable to plan or picture where their children will be attending school next year. 

As you probably already know, six schools have been earmarked for closure on the Island: Cowes, Arreton, Oakfield, Brading, Wroxall and Godshill.

The council is currently consulting on a recommendation to close the schools in a bid to improve education results on the Island and tackle the high number of surplus school places.

It is likely that any closure will happen for the start of the next school year, so September 2025 — not even ten months away.

These things are complicated, and I don’t pretend to be envious of the decision makers who have to work out how to keep our school system ticking over at a time when the birth rate is falling and some schools have nine spare places in reception but a totally jam-packed Year 2 class.

It’s hard to see how you make those numbers work.

But this isn’t an issue that has sprung up and surprised people.

The numbers of births are well documented and a surplus of school places isn’t new news, so why are parents, teachers and schools suddenly having their future turned upside down with less than a year’s notice?

A friend of mine has visited Lanesend Primary School and Gurnard Primary School in anticipation of Cowes (which, by the way, is an extremely popular and well performing school) shutting its doors and leaving her daughter without a place. 

Not only could neither school tell her how they would handle taking on so many extra students or how the process would work in terms of new teachers or classrooms — it’s not their fault, they just hadn’t been told the answers yet — but she was getting different stories about what would happen to Cowes Primary School depending on who she spoke to.

It’s an anxiety I might not have understood a mere six months ago, but now, I can see that the uncertainty would drive you mad — almost as much as being told your son is cold in the supermarket.