Extensions to 11-18 schools before new La Mare Primary

The States agreed to allocate up to £22.4m. for the primary school, which has facilities judged as ‘very poor’ and ‘wholly inadequate’.

Serious problems have been found at the school which are compromising the experience of students.

For example, some classrooms are unbearably cold for children and staff in the winter and too hot in the summer.

Repeated attempts to alleviate the problem have made only a marginal difference.

La Mare de Carteret Primary educates some of the most disadvantaged children in the island and there have been concerns that those children are being given a further setback with the worst facilities.

There are two feasible options for the construction which will be considered by the committee in due course.

One option would allow construction to start before the closure of La Mare de Carteret High School, which is scheduled for July 2022.

Option B would require construction to await the closure of the high school.

Other considerations include the phasing of all the other large scale construction projects in the transforming education programme.

The States agreed last week to give financial backing to the rebuild of the primary school,

with only two deputies voting against it, and there were two abstentions.

An earlier move by Policy & Resources to delay the project until after a review of all the island’s primary schools could be carried out was defeated by 24 votes to 9.

Members of Education, Sport & Culture successfully argued that any delay would have sent out the wrong message and would have been a negative ‘kick’, especially considering there was a social need to redevelop the school, which had taken hits over recent years.

Previous plans for the redevelopment of La Mare de Carteret Primary School have taken the form of a courtyard design, but ESC is now proposing a linear concept, which is less expensive.

The dilemma for educationalists is whether to rebuild the facility as a two-form or three-form school – as a social priority school there is an aim to keep class sizes smaller.

Rebuilding the primary school with two forms would cost between £13.3m. and £18m. depending on whether a swimming pool is included.

Rebuilding it as a three-form entry would cost between £17.7m. and £22.4m. depending on a pool.

The existing pool is outside and therefore cannot be used for a significant proportion of the year.

A purpose-built primary-age swimming pool adds £4.7m. to the project, a substantial part of which arises from the need to provide a building to house the pool.