Treasury amendment to close one of the secondary schools
A CONTROVERSIAL option to axe a secondary school is being tabled by Treasury and Resources minister Gavin St Pier, in a move he says could save at least £2.5m. a year and bring educational benefits.
He said his department was behind four amendments to next week's debate over far-reaching reforms of secondary eduction, designed to ensure the critical decisions were made in the right order.
Two of these give deputies the chance to vote for either a three-school model, or the four sites system as proposed by the Education Department, but any decision over the size of the school estate will not be taken before deputies decide on whether to abolish the 11-plus.
Deputy St Pier said Treasury felt it was critical for a decision to be made on the future of selection first because that could influence deputies' views on the number of secondary schools that were needed.
He said not only would moving to a three-school system save some £2.5m. annually, there was a view that larger schools could bring educational benefits, as expressed by Dr Christopher Nicholls, the chairman of the independent review team for the La Mare rebuild project.
'Clearly if you took just financial considerations, three schools is going to cost less to run than four,' he said. 'Estimates in our amendment predict savings of £2.5m. a year.
'There is a strong educational argument also for three slightly larger schools than four smaller ones.'
