The States recently agreed to develop an early years and families framework, as part of one of five ‘super priorities’ for the political term, with the aim of helping parents and improving outcomes for children.
The Education, Sport & Culture Committee has now revealed that this work, which will focus on children from birth to five years old, was one of the main reasons for it delaying the long-awaited review of primary schools until the second half of the political term.
‘We are concentrating on this area at present and are committed to delivering on the States’ ambition of creating a genuinely family-friendly community,’ said ESC president Paul Montague.
‘Our sequencing is deliberate. The early years are the foundation of the education system and the point at which intervention has the greatest long-term impact on children’s development and future educational outcomes.
‘By focusing on this stage first, we establish the conditions that will directly shape demand and support needs within and beyond primary education.’
The review of primary education, which was originally meant to have been completed by 2022 at the latest, is driven by an increasing mismatch between schools’ capacity and demand for places.
Based on ESC’s own school capacity figures, there is already enough classroom space to accommodate about 200 more pupils a year than the actual number of children entering reception classes, and the island’s plummeting birth rate suggests that annual surplus capacity could grow to 300 places in the near future.
However, the distribution of empty space is highly uneven across the island, and some schools have even seen an increase in class sizes, despite the steep decline in pupil numbers overall.
The Education Committee’s latest comments about the reasons for delaying its primary review indicate a belief that more family-friendly policies will significantly increase the birth rate to use up much of the empty classroom space, or that it is considering using school buildings to expand nursery and pre-school education or open family centres.
It said it would have a better understanding of ‘pupil flows, cohort sizes and support requirements’ in primary schools only once the States had developed its new approach to the early years and young families.
‘This approach ensures that any changes we might decide to make to primary provision are informed, coherent and sustainable,’ said Deputy Montague.
‘We want to stress that this is not a delay in ambition, but a logical sequencing of reform to secure the strongest long-term outcomes for learners and the wider community.’
Education is also dealing with a sharp increase in both the number of primary-age children with additional learning needs and the complexity of such cases.
This is requiring school leaders and the Education Office to make changes to how staff are deployed and space is used in schools, and the committee has been advised to factor it into its review of the primary phase.
‘So the question is not just how many pupils we have, but what those pupils need to succeed,’ said Deputy Montague.
‘Our priority must always be the quality of educational outcomes. Of course, we also have a duty to taxpayers to run an efficient system, but efficiency cannot come at the expense of delivering the right support and standards for children.’