Deputies make bid to keep sixth form at Les Varendes
A NEW model of secondary and post-16 education agreed two years ago could be halted by the States next week.
Deputy Aidan Matthews has submitted an amendment which he hopes will lead to the States sixth form centre remaining at Les Varendes instead of moving to Les Ozouets alongside a redeveloped Guernsey Institute. If States members back the amendment, Education, Sport & Culture will be directed not to construct a new post-16 campus at Les Ozouets, which is the centrepiece of its planned £120m. reorganisation of secondary and further education.
Deputy Matthews said that ESC would then be free to return to the States with proposals to develop the Guernsey Institute at Les Ozouets while keeping the sixth form centre at Les Varendes.
‘What then happens at Les Ozouets is really in the hands of ESC. I am not directing what they should do next,’ he said.
ESC is hoping the States will back additional borrowing of at least £200m., and possibly up to £350m., to help fund the full post-16 campus at Les Ozouets. But Deputy Matthews believes there are better options.
‘This amendment... directs ESC to stabilise the current secondary and post-16 education system and re-appraise the options for future delivery of non-selective education in Guernsey,’ said Deputy Matthews.
‘It allows members to act more prudently... by spending less on capital projects at this time and re-appraising the options for secondary and post-16 education in the light of changed circumstances since the secondary and post-16 education reorganisation was approved in September 2021.’
But ESC president Andrea Dudley-Owen rebuked Deputy Matthews for an amendment which she said would create more years of instability and uncertainty.
‘It remains to be seen whether Deputy Matthews is aware of the consequences of his amendment,’ she said.
‘The ambiguity in the wording of the amendment, particularly proposition 9 which includes reference to the whole post-16 campus, is of real concern as it appears to direct the committee to not continue with any work on that site [Les Ozouets].
‘This is not something that can just be stopped without significant damage to our education system.’
Deputy Matthews claimed that ESC had been invited to identify a plan B if it did not secure £120m. funding for its reorganisation. ‘They said that it either all goes ahead or none of it goes ahead,’ he said.
He would prefer the sixth form centre to operate as it does currently but identified alternatives without moving it to Les Ozouets.
‘The other option which ESC has, I think, worked with in the past is to have it as a separate sixth form college which is attached to an 11-16 school but there’s a wall somewhere,’ he said.
Deputy Dudley-Owen warned that it would not be simple to keep the sixth form centre at Les Varendes and may not even be cheaper.
‘In addition, it completely misses the forward-looking, aspirational opportunity we have to create a high-quality campus for all post-16 learners,’ she said.
‘In excess of 1,200 students would need to be accommodated full-time at Les Varendes – a number of students the community has made crystal clear is larger than they want on any one site. The amendment is seeking to re-open and re-run a debate the States has already had numerous times and has now been decided.’
Deputy Matthews’ amendment will be seconded by Deputy Peter Roffey.
