Own identity vital as schools’ merger nears

The head teacher appointed to lead Les Varendes High said the team of four staff and 20 students was making a valuable contribution to building the new school’s identity.

‘A good school should be an environment in which students can be comfortable to come and learn and should also have an identity that students can be proud of,’ said Verona Tomlin.

‘For these reasons, the team has been working closely with a handful of students, representing a number of different age groups, to create and develop concepts for the school’s identity.’

Mrs Tomlin, who has been head at La Mare since 2020, appealed to the community for more creative ideas.

‘If anyone with a creative or artistic mind in the community that might have previously attended either of the schools, or has an interest in education, would be keen to support us with some projects aiming to give the school a new look and feel, I would be very interested to hear from them and discuss their ideas,’ she said.

In 2021 the States agreed to merge the schools as part of a new education model to include three 11-16 schools, a separate sixth form college and The Guernsey Institute. But the model faces uncertainty after Education lost its building contractor ahead of another States vote later this year on whether to fund the project.

‘I don’t think you can ever block out uncertainty completely. It’s always there. You know those conversations are going on,’ said Mrs Tomlin.

‘But the one thing that never changes is the need for high-quality teaching. If you are able to deliver that, it doesn’t matter where you are in terms of buildings.

‘If you’ve got a curriculum that supports the needs of all children and you’ve got high-quality teaching, does it really matter about buildings?’

Over the next two academic years, the schools will step up their preparations to merge before La Mare closes its doors for secondary education in July 2025.

The final year group of students who sat the 11-plus are completing their GCSEs this summer and Mrs Tomlin said the comprehensive intakes at Grammar and La Mare were one reason why the schools were now less different from each other than they were a few years ago.

‘If you’d asked me five or six years ago, I’d have said the two schools were very different,’ she said.

‘But we do a lot working together in the secondary school partnership. For example, on curriculum – we teach the same specifications and we’ve just appointed curriculum alignment leads, which will ensure there is more that is common across all the schools as well as reducing staff workload.

‘There is now a lot more in common. The purpose of the schools is also the same now that we are all comprehensive – stretching at the top and scaffolding and supporting every single child. So I don’t think we are nearly as different now as we once were.’