Education answers questions from People Power Guernsey about new school model
A CAMPAIGN group against the proposed two-school model submitted 75 questions to the Education committee.
The questions from People Power Guernsey came the week before the States debate on the 'pause and review' requete.
Covering everything from the size of vertical tutor groups to the process and timeline for the review of the business cases, the responses were grouped by Education into relevant themes to ease reading.
'Many people do not understand why the committee dismisses the current site at Footes Lane as an educational establishment,' People Power Guernsey said in one of their questions.
Education responded that an independent consultancy firm endorsed the selection of the St Sampson's and Les Beaucamps sites as the two best options for the new colleges as they had sufficient space for new building requirements and were more suitable for adaptation and development than either the Grammar School or La Mare sites.
It was also confirmed that the committee's initial plans were approved by the Assembly in 2018 with neither a strategic nor outline business case.
However Education said the starting point for any business case was first agreeing 'the case' - the case for change and what the business case must answer.
It was reaffirmed that equal and broader curriculum offer was one of the central aims of the one-school, two-colleges model and the committee said that any major investment programme has to strike a balance between delivering benefits at an affordable cost.
When asked what evidence the committee had that young people support the two site model, Education said: 'Students are very involved involved in matters relating to their education [and] there have been a range of engagement activities conducted in schools including assemblies, transition events, open evenings, student surveys [and] students took part in the Name Our School consultation in April 2019.'
Questions around teaching staff turnover showed an average of 12.8% turnover for the previous five years, of which all years were consistently below the UK national average.
In many of the answers, hyperlinks were added to direct readers back to previous Education documents and statements.
To see the whole question and answer sheet, click here.
