None of the school’s eight Year 11 students attended lessons – many instead were involved in a protest at the nearby memorial gardens.
One of the students, who wished to remain anonymous, said they had taken the step to strike because they felt that complaints raised by them and their parents had been ignored.
‘Sadly I think it is too late to turn our GCSE results around,’ they said. ‘We want future year groups not to have to go through what we have.’
They added that they had emailed teachers to apologise for missing lessons.
‘We needed to tell the management of the school they should be doing better. I know there are recruitment problems nationwide in subjects like maths and IT, but we have had excellent full-time maths teachers leave because of the way the school is run.’
A parent of another child in Year 11, who also wished to remain anonymous, said the protest was completely student-led and borne out of frustration with the way they believed the school was failing them.
‘They have voted with their feet and we fully support them,’ they said. ‘They are not being listened to by the school, they just get a lot of waffly words and no action. They have taken this step out of pure desperation.’
They said issues at the school included a lack of leadership, staff shortages, and poor relationships between teachers.
‘Core subjects in the curriculum are not being fully taught. They are a very small class and should be well ahead of their contemporaries in the UK, but they are all one or two grades behind where they should be,’ they said.
‘Most want to go to Guernsey to do A-levels but if they don’t get the grades, they won’t get into sixth form and that could mess up their whole lives.’
They were also critical of head teacher Wendy Wilson, who is due to retire in the summer after a decade at the school, the past four years as head.
Her efforts had been praised when she announced her retirement in January.
Interviews have taken place to find her successor but it is understood that no appointment has yet been named.
The parent said that other teachers expected to also leave at the end of the school year were now set to leave next week at the end of this term.
‘We have had about eight maths teachers in two years, there have been so many we have lost count, yet the school and Guernsey just say this is absolutely normal.’
The pupils had chosen yesterday to strike as their afternoon studies was an ‘enrichment’ session.
‘The kids know this is a waste of time with their exams on the horizon. It is just another example of the incompetence at the school,’ the parent said.
Problems at the school, they believed, were having repercussions across the island.
‘I’ve a friend who has a child starting in reception who is now contemplating leaving. These are professional people filling vital roles that the island needs. The school is becoming the biggest blocker to the success of the island. It affects everything.’
For the past two years at St Anne’s all of its GCSE cohort has achieved pass grades, with 60% of all results at or better than grade 4.
Education in Alderney is controlled by Guernsey’s Education, Sport & Culture committee.
Director of Education Nick Hynes said he had been informed that the Year 11 students had chosen not to attend school yesterday.
‘Clearly, attending school and engaging with the support available is the best way to ensure students are fully prepared for exams,’ he said.
‘I fully recognise that many students may be feeling frustrated and that there has been disruption to their learning, and we understand that this is an important and sometimes stressful time for them.’
He said that in recent weeks Education head office had been working closely with St Anne’s to provide additional support for the GCSE cohort and he was aware concerns had been raised regarding staff turnover.
‘However, I know the school has been addressing these issues with individual mentoring sessions and putting on additional revision sessions on a range of subjects both during the holidays and after school,’ he said.
‘We are also discussing the possibility of subject specialists from Guernsey going to Alderney next term for further revision sessions. All of this work is being done with the aim of helping every student succeed.’
He added that as part of regular visits to the school he would be in St Anne’s early next term.
‘I will make sure that I am available, alongside other officers, to speak to parents, carers and students so they can ask any questions they may have,’ he said.
‘St Anne’s, the Education Office, and more recently, the governing board have all been making sustained efforts to address the root of these challenges as well, particularly around staffing.
‘Recruiting skilled teachers to work in St Anne’s continues to be difficult, especially in attracting staff to work on the island, but this remains a priority.’