Students only moved into the new Sixth Form Centre last week, but were quick to label it as ‘unhygienic’, complaining of no running water from bathroom taps and dirty changing rooms.
In a post widely shared on social media, one student said that the set-up was already affecting students in ‘a really negative way’.
‘It feels like the school is trying to distract from all of this by putting up flashy new signs and colourful decorations, hoping we won’t notice the actual problems,’ one student said.
New Education, Sport & Culture president Paul Montague said that while he had taught sixth formers for more than 30 years and this type of comment was not out of the blue, he acknowledged the issues raised and that this was a big change for students.
His said his priority issue was sorting the toilets, which as well as no working hand-washing facilities, do not have doors separating them from the corridors.
‘We toured the school on Tuesday and asked for privacy screens to be put up,’ he said.
‘I had assumed that they would be put up before the students got in. I hope they’re being done now. Doors were meant to have been ordered for those toilet blocks, it was completely inappropriate.
‘I had gone in and pressed one of the taps, it’s a basic necessity to have systems that work and that is top of the list of things to do.’
Over the past few years, all high schools had entrance doors removed to combat issues such as vaping in toilets and ensuring students felt safe.
Newer schools such as Les Beaucamps were designed so that cubicle doors could not be seen from the corridor, even without a door into the room, however this logistically did not work due at the much older La Mare building.
This weekend temporary screens were installed with a more permanent solution due to be installed soon.
Yesterday, plumbers remedied low water pressure to ensure that facilities were fully functional. Access in and out of the building and fire safety concerns have also been raised by students and parents.
It has been confirmed that there is a working security system for the external doors and a gate at the rear entrance of the school so that passers-by can no longer walk in off the playing fields.
‘All of this is standard for a school now, and the site is all above board when it comes to fire safety issue,’ said Deputy Montague.
‘We know this security is very different from how schools worked in the past, but then this is also the case for many businesses.’
Much of the school decoration over the summer was carried out through community partnerships, which the Education Committee actively sought out.
Parents, some of whom have contacted the Guernsey Press on behalf of their student children about the concerns, have been invited to visit on Thursday evening for a ‘meet the tutor’ event and to see the facilities.
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