‘A school our students can be proud to attend’

GIVING students a school they could be proud to attend was the most important aspect of Les Voies’ latest Oftsed report, headteacher Jon Furley has said.

After a disappointing Ofsted report in 2022, the school, which teaches young people aged nine to 16 years old with emotional and mental health needs, has now been classed as 'good' across the board.

‘We are incredibly pleased with the result of the Ofsted report,’ said Mr Furley.

‘It reflects how well the staff have done, how hard they’ve worked, how well we’ve been supported by people within ESC to make sure the curriculum is where it needs to be.

‘It reflects a school that our students deserve to go to and a school that has been built on hard work over a long period of time.’

He said the previous negative Ofsted report would have affected pupils.

‘One of the things that really upset me about the original report was that our young people, who have already got lots of barriers in their life, were having to contend with a barrier where an external body said that they’re in a school and it’s not good,’ he said.

‘That is really important for me, that those students can say “I go to a good school” because they need that.’

Mr Furley came to Guernsey in 2012 when the site was known as the Link Centre, and set up the school, which opened in 2013.

Having been at the school for 12 years, he has had the privilege of watching pupils take their whole educational journey through its classrooms.

‘We had five youngsters who won national awards last year,’ he said.

‘One of those youngsters had been one of my first students who came here in 2012, when it was still the Link Centre, so watching his journey, while he’s had real difficulties for all sorts of different reasons, leaving with a range of qualifications, going on to a level three course at college, and being a successful part of a community, that’s what we want.’

The report had described the school as ‘transformational for its pupils’, and Mr Furley said that was the key to its success.

‘It’s taking young people from a place where they find things really, really tricky, where mainstream education might not their needs, and transforming those opportunities,’ he said.

‘Making sure that they get qualifications, making sure that they can be successful within a school setting and go on to get employment or training, or go on to the College of FE or to the sixth form.’

Two areas were still highlighted for improvement – embedding the new curriculum and giving pupils more opportunities to learn about diversity.

‘In terms of that cultural diversity piece, I think that’s a Guernsey challenge,’ Mr Furley said.

‘We don’t necessarily have the ability to go and look at cultures in the same way that you might in UK school. So I think Ofsted is always going to see those kind of things.

‘With regard to the curriculum we’re absolutely seeing the impact of it, but that’s got to continue to be rolled out and understood. So it’s a punctuation point on a journey, as opposed to a destination.’

The school is split into two parts, with five to nine-year-olds at the 'pod' in the grounds of La Mare de Carteret Primary school, and nine to 16 on-site at Les Voies. He said demand for the school’s services had increased over the years, growing from 23 pupils in 2013 to 50 at the end of last year.

The school generally has much smaller class sizes than in mainstream schools, and Mr Furley said this allowed staff to understand their pupils really well as individuals.

‘We talk about – “routines, relationships and responses”. Building those robust routines that enable young people to find us predictable and to make sure that they feel safe within the environment, this allows us to form positive relationships.

'Those relationships become the bedrock, and then we begin to learn about how to respond best to our youngsters.

‘A mainstream school would not be able to do that with a group of 30, whereas with a group of six, that becomes much more feasible.’

The report highlighted how pupils typically left with high literacy skills, some developed a love of reading for the first time, and Mr Furley said it was a priority within the school.

‘We are making sure that we’re giving students opportunities to begin to like reading and have that kind of love of literature. It’s about teaching the functionality of reading in the first instance, then they can begin to enjoy the actual process of reading. If they haven’t got those skills first they’re not going to love reading.’

Ofsted described his fellow staff as skilled and passionate and Mr Furley said he could not praise them enough.

‘Every single member of staff is on that same page of taking children on the journey, supporting them and are passionate.

'I don’t think that’s changed in the time that I’ve been here, they go that extra mile for our youngsters.

'That’s the kind of culture we create, as often our young people have not had anyone do that for them before.’

History of Les Voies

ORIGINALLY the site off Collings Road was home to special needs Oakvale School.

At that time it was one of three special needs services – along with the Longfield Centre and Mont Varouf.

But the opening of Le Rondin in 2006 and Le Murier in 2008 saw a change in special educational provision in the island.

Oakvale School closed and The Link Centre opened on the site in 2010 to help pupils with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties.

At that time pupils would only attend the centre part-time, with the aim for pupils to remain in mainstream schools or return to those schools.

But there were concerns about how it communicated with mainstream schools and in 2013 it was rebranded as Les Voies and became a full school.

It now helps young people aged 9 to 16 with social, emotional and mental health difficulties.​

Students attend if they have a determination of need, or have been offered an assessment place for a minimum period of two terms.

The school is located in a purpose-built establishment for about 50 children.