They say the gift would allow both colleges to give up the annual grant they receive from the States, worth more than £2m a year. It would also fund bursaries at both schools and a new island-wide ‘legacy programme’ for the benefit of the island’s wider community.
‘The Ladies’ College is one of the oldest girls’ schools in the British Isles and Elizabeth College is one of the oldest schools in the British Isles and I think this will go down as one of the most momentous days in our history,’ said Daniele Harford-Fox, principal of The Ladies’ College, on announcing the news yesterday.
‘This is a truly extraordinary gift which will not only allow both colleges to be independent, and to allow us to pass back that support to the States to deploy as they see fit.’
‘But it will also allow us to not only create opportunities for our students, but for the island more widely,’ she said.
It is understood the two colleges were each approached by Peter Ferbrache, acting on behalf of a private philanthropist, in the wake of last year’s debate over the future of their public funding.
They say one condition of the gift is a change to the status of The Ladies’ College, which is currently governed by a States’ law dating back to 1962.
They will be asking deputies to support a change to that law and ‘move its operations into a modern charitable structure’ as well as facilitate the purchase of the site it currently rents under an educational lease.
Elizabeth College is an independent charity and already in a position to accept its share of the gift.
'Our two colleges have worked in partnership for many years, and we share a simple ambition, which is to provide young people in Guernsey with the best, well-rounded education we can,’ said Elizabeth College principal Jenny Palmer.
As part of a new commitment to ‘enhance the skills and passions of the whole community,’ The Ladies’ College would would create an AI and innovation ‘hub’, while Elizabeth College would look to develop its sport, performing, and creative arts offering, ‘extending participation beyond its own students to members of the wider community’.
By our senior reporter Matt Fallaize
The announcement late yesterday of the ‘extaordinary’ financial gift offered to Elizabeth and Ladies’ Colleges was indeed, as they said, ‘momentous’ - not only for them but also for the States.
The gift, from a family with a long local history, is so generous that it could allow the States to withdraw public funding of the colleges, ending what has for decades been a contentious issue in secondary education.
But that public funding comes with conditions, including around academic selection, and if the funding goes the conditions also go, and with it any States influence over the colleges.
The two colleges would be truly independent, as well as having more financial muscle, and it would be fascinating to see how they and the States sector developed in that very different environment. And what of the third college, Blanchelande, which has not yet reacted?
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