‘This is what People Power marchers wanted for schools’
ONE OF the organisers of the march against the two large schools has said he is heartened by the three-school model which has emerged as the preferred option of the new Education committee.
Mark Mauger, pictured right, was one of the leaders of People Power Guernsey, which helped galvanise thousands of islanders to join the ‘pause and review’ march across Town in February last year.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Mr Mauger said the new plans were a big improvement.
‘I think it’s good, the sixth form would not be tied to one school, so there would be no favouritism given to one particular school.
‘People Power Guernsey and the marchers wanted smaller schools, and this is almost perfect actually. It’s three smaller 11-16 schools and one sixth form next to the Guernsey Institute, so all the post-16 education would be on one site, which would be good for equality.
‘Obviously at this stage it’s the preferred option, it still needs to be approved, so fingers crossed that it will go through.
‘They’ve done the review well, they’ve come up with an option that certainly satisfies myself and what I think 4,000 people marched for and signed the petition for, so they’ve reviewed it and said two schools isn’t the way forward, so it’s all good from my point of view.’
Education, Sport & Culture revealed its preferred model earlier this week.
Les Beaucamps and St Sampson’s would be the sites for two of the 11-16 schools, and the third would be at either Les Varendes or La Mare de Carteret.
A sixth form centre would be built at Les Ozouets next to the Guernsey Institute, so that academic, vocational and technical education could be provided on one campus.
Some politicians are eager to see the capital and revenue costs of this model with four sites, however Mr Mauger said that money should not be the only consideration.
‘You can’t really put a cost on education, I know that there’s been talk saying it’s going to be so much more expensive, but they were going to have to do a massive redevelopment to almost double the size of two of the current schools.
‘Obviously we’ll have to wait and see the figures and hear what the teachers and parents say as well.’
There are calls among politicians for a like-for-like review of different school models to be completed, so that the models can be compared against each other on key criteria, including class sizes, space standards, educational outcomes, special needs provision and costs.
Deputy Tina Bury is leading the drive for an evidence-based decision.
She is happy that ESC has successfully managed the pause part of ‘pause and review’, but she wants to see more about the review part.
Mr Mauger said he had confidence that ESC had done a thorough job.
‘I’m satisfied, you could keep doing like-for-like on two schools, you could do like-for-like on what we’ve got now, there could be so many combinations you’d be comparing everything against everything to the year dot.
‘They’ve come up with what People Power Guernsey wanted, they’ve said that two massive sites won’t work, there would be too many children, and it would be too daunting for students, and what they’ve come up with is good.’
