The former leader of Swale council has waded into the row over standards at Sheppey's Oasis Academy.

After KentOnline broke the news of the secondary school's shock Ofsted rating of 'inadequate', Roger Truelove, who used to teach at the Minster site, said: “It is unacceptable for young people on the Island to be offered such a negative educational environment with appalling levels of behaviour, truancy and poor learning that leads to an inadequate education.

“We recognise the considerable challenges facing the Academy, especially with teacher recruitment, but the young people must come first.

“We believe that our hopes of what can be achieved on Sheppey is being held back by the educational deficit illustrated here."

He added: "We support the view expressed by MP Gordon Henderson that the Island needs two schools with two separate providers offering choice to local youngsters and families.

"We need to know what changes can be made in the short term, especially for children currently enrolled at the school or about to start in September.”

Oasis has split its academy over two sites at Sheerness and Minster.

Cllr Truelove, now 77, was one of the new breed of teachers encouraged to work on Sheppey in the 1970s when Island children were used as an experiment to see how the comprehensive system would work.

Two successful technical schools and two secondary modern schools were closed and replaced with the new Sheppey School built at Minster which became know as 'The Comp'.

A Middle School system was set up to look after children aged from nine to 13. Islanders were not encouraged to sit the 11-plus any more and were all expected to enrol in the comprehensive.

But with its lack of discipline and no uniform, pupils encouraged to call teachers by their first names and seemingly allowed to play truant, many parents preferred the more rigorous approach to education offered on the mainland.

They made their sons and daughters take the Kent Test (Kent's version of the 11-plus). And if their children failed to get into the two Sittingbourne grammar schools, they fought for places in the town's other secondary schools.

Now, more than 1,000 Islanders are ferried off Sheppey every day in a fleet of coaches.

For years, Sittingbourne could cope with the Island influx but now, with more houses built, some schools are struggling to find places for children who live next door while the Oasis Academy is still below its designed 2,500 capacity.

Cllr Truelove, a former history teacher, moved to Swale with his teacher wife Christine to work at the Sheppey Comprehensive in the early 1970s.

He recalled: "We had been working in Kenya but when we came back to England I read an article in the Times Educational Supplement about wonderful things happening at the Sheppey Upper School under a progressive man called Cyril Poster who was creating a community school. I also read his book, which had a character in it called a Mr Truelove.

"A lot of people like me came at that time because we thought it was the place to be - but it wasn't quite what we expected.

"However, I took a class for O-level and they all passed, with a lot of As, because, at that time, people didn't go off the Island so we had good results from strong students. But after that, Sheppey School became somewhere not to go to. We were all very committed to trying to make it work but half the staff who had been recruited from the previous Sheppey schools weren't so convinced.

"By the time I left, to teach in Bromley, Bexley and then Maidstone, some kids weren't being properly taught, mainly because they were on Minster beach during the summer."

The Comp went through a number of changes as academic results tumbled. It was rebranded Minster College and then KCC farmed the contract out to the posh Dulwich College which built a brand new campus at Minster and Sheerness believing open-planned classrooms would solve all problems. They didn't.

After it failed, the government offered the contract to Oasis which has 51 other academies and is also behind Britain's first 'secure school' being built at Rochester.

Cllr Truelove said: "I still believe there should be choice of two schools under two providers with one strong on vocational education providing skills needed locally. But it is difficult to achieve as the Government seems committed to keeping Oasis as the single provider."

"Ideologically, I'm not in favour of academies. I'd like a new Labour government to put them under a great deal more scrutiny."

As calls came for tougher discipline to curb bad behaviour in the classroom and a crackdown on absenteeism, mother-of-three Gillian Wilson said it was time to concentrate more on the children and less on their uniforms.

She said: "The ethos that dominates the academy’s policies is focused on behavioural expectations. There is a driving focus concentrated on the children, expectations with their uniform, a behavioural point system and consequently punishment.

"But the children’s first and foremost right to an education in a safe environment is not being met, considered or respected in any way. Subsequently, the children feel they are not listened to and struggle to respect the way they are being treated. It's ridiculous."

She said: "The academy’s focus needs to turn on its heel completely to focus on the children's wellbeing and gaining back the respect of the children they are failing and the trust of the parents. They need to spend time within our community to gain an understanding of it or at least answer the phone when we call."

Haley Lucas said: "I think home schooling is the way forward for many and make it compulsory that every child has to belong to the Army, Sea or Air cadets where they are taught respect and discipline but also self-worth and then watch them grow."

She added: "This school was failing back in the 80s when it was the Sheppey Comp and in the 90s as Minster College. Whatever it's next new name, it will still be the same.

"Teachers need to be focussing on removing the rotten apples rather than ignoring them. The school should be tougher on problem kids but they won't listen, that's the problem.

"It will continue to fail because it has no reason whatsoever to improve with no other school to compete with and nowhere to put 1,000-plus if they closed it. I’ve been to inner city schools which are better and safer than this place. It's a joke."

But Matt Barnes said: "I notice people are always complaining that there’s not enough discipline by the school but I have to ask is there enough discipline administered at home first?

"Years ago, if a child was told off by the school the parents would carry on the discipline at home. Now it seems that parents want to march down the school to complain instead. Surely from 11 years old, children should have been taught not to bully, insult or offend others?

"Parents should have already taught what is and isn’t acceptable. When a teacher hands out discipline, is this supported by parents?"

However, one former teacher at the school broke ranks to say: "The bullies and angry non-cooperative students just face more discipline when they need understanding and agreed boundaries they can respect.

Ann Fowler said: "Everyone is quick to blame the parents but some of those were victims themselves. People have conveniently forgotten the paedophile ring that was exposed on the Island in the 1990s. Those abused children may be today's parents and grandparents. They were let down and unsupported.

"The Island had the highest level of teenage pregnancies. The parents and their children need understanding and support, not blame and discipline. I taught on the Island for 30 years. Some students may have lacked literacy and numeracy skills but they were not stupid. They were very savvy from having to grow up too quick.

"They always appreciated respect and understanding and were very loyal. I don’t know, but I suspect it’s the same with today's generation. Those in charge of education on the Island need to look into and understand what some families have been through historically. Then they may be in a position to support and make a difference."

Not all pupils have be failed, though. There have been success stories. One former pupil, Jo-Anne Crowder, is now working at the Houses of Parliament, Danielle Stewart heads up the National Grid's hydrogen programme and journalist Robert Barham went online with his happy memories of being taught there.

Mum Jo-Ann Arrowsmith said: "My daughter went through this school and has just graduated from university. My son has just done his GCSEs there and is going back to the sixth form. They have been lucky and always had brilliant grades. The school will always get a bad press. It's never been excellent but some of the problems are down to pupils' behaviour. It's not all down to the staff."

Former Swale councillor and school governor Mike Brown said: "Fourteen years ago, when middle schools were dropped and the Island's education system was reconfigured, many of us involved with education maintained that a single school on two sites would be unmanageable.

"A better option would have been three smaller secondary schools on the three former middle school sites, each with its own individuality. Five head teachers later perhaps might show we were right?"

Independent education adviser Peter Read, who previously turned down a request by KCC to lead the school, said: "Some will blame the children. However, there are many other schools across the country serving deprived communities where good leadership changes lives.

"There are too many children at OAIOS who deserved, and deserve, so much better than this appalling experience. Whatever is provided, it is not education. The government needs to respond now by stepping in, removing Oasis from the school and replacing it with a hand-picked team of trouble-shooters. But it won't, so more children will be condemned to more misery instead of the education they deserve."

Oasis has brought in the Government's former Children's Commissioner to try to pinpoint Sheppey's problems.

Anne Longfield, who chairs the Commission on Young Lives, is exploring Sheppey's wider socio-economic problems and has identified that the Island has one of Britain's youngest populations.

She said: "We are looking at how to help children and families right from the start and what it would take to build that support. What strikes me straight away is that Sheppey is so near to London yet the first train in the morning costs £30 to get there, one-way. How can anyone even think about the cost of that? It adds to that feeling of isolation.

"The population is also really young. The data seems to say 32% of the Isle of Sheppey is under 18. That is really high. Somewhere like Bradford, which has had its own troubles, has a population of under-18s at 26%. Sheppey is way over that. It also looks like 8% of the population is under-five. Again, that is really high compared with other places.

"So Sheppey has a population of really young families who don't have the infrastructure around them that families need in those first few years of life. We already know Swale has one of the largest ratios of patients to GPs in the UK, services which young families need. There is great provision in children's centres like Seashells but I want to see if more is needed. I suspect there is.

"Back in 2006, £2m was given to Sheppey for Surestart alone to help young families. But that stopped in 2010. That glue to build trust in communities is now missing. Sheppey clearly has not had the spotlight shone at it.

"One of the first things I am going to do is talk to the new Integrated Care System (formerly clinical commissioning groups) which is working on its business plans. I want Sheppey to have a very clear focus with very clear outcomes."

She is planning to set up a meeting to discuss the challenges of the Island and will be seeking collaborations. She said: "I would love all families on Sheppey to know where they can all turn to for help."

She added: "Absenteeism starts young. Family hubs could offer practical help during those difficult times."

Oasis has already pledged £300,000 to create a team of six youth workers to help children and families in and outside school to provide positive role models.

Steve Chalke, the founder of Oasis, said: "Many schools are in deprived areas but Sheppey has coastal poverty.

"Other schools can draw on help from a large circle of networks but Sheppey is surrounded by water. It has coastal poverty of 360 degrees, which makes it unique and leads to an Island mentality."

Parents have been invited to discuss the latest Ofsted report with executive head Andy Booth this Wednesday at 6pm.