'Think of the pupils'

NEWS that St Andrew's Primary School could close was greeted with dismay yesterday. PTA chairman John Tostevin said that he had heard whispers that it could be on Education's hit list.

'Now it has come out. We had a meeting of the PTA arranged for today anyway. This is bound to come up and it will not be taken lightly,' he said.

Education minister Martin Ozanne admitted on Wednesday that Education could consider closing a primary school to make savings, although he would not name one.

Department member Hunter Adam then named St Andrew's as the most obvious option.

'All I can say is that our numbers are rising, not falling,' said St Andrew's head teacher Mary Sebire yesterday.

'With our intake in September, we will have more children coming in than last year. Our class sizes vary because of the nature of the one-form entry, but our numbers are rising at the moment.

'I do not want to say much more and I will leave it to the politicians. It has happened before with other schools. At one point, the Forest was going to close for similar reasons, but the parents made a big protest and it did not happen.

'We have great support from parents. It is a great community school. In our last validation report, it said that one of our great strengths is the link with the parents and community,' she said.

'I thought it was ironic yesterday that I had listened to the States debate and then we won the Floral Guernsey school award and helped the parish to win the environment award.'

Figures suggest that the number of primary school pupils has begun to drop and will continue to do so.

'My third child is starting in the Reception class in September and class numbers have been rising steadily over the last three years.

'St Andrew's is the last village or community school in Guernsey. It partakes in a lot of parish schemes, has on numerous occasions over the last three to four years, has just received a very glowing accreditation report and Mary Sebire and the staff produce excellent results with the pupils.

'What will happen to the pupils?

'Big is not always best. I rate that school highly. It would be the end of the parish school. Five years ago when my children started, it was not receiving very good press, but Mary and the team have turned that around.

'We would be bitterly disappointed if all the good work that Mary Sebire and her team have done in making the school an excellent learning environment were to close and the reason behind it was because of a lack of funds.

'The education of Guernsey children is the future and closing St Andrew's School is a backward step.

'You cannot shut a school just like that and I suspect that it may be part of a longer-term plan. You would like to think that if there were any plans to close the school, parents would be informed first rather than it come out in the forum of the States.'