The Education, Sport & Culture Committee pledged to decide on its preferred location before the end of the year, as part of its workplan for the States term, which was published yesterday.
The sixth form is currently operating from the former secondary school building at La Mare de Carteret, where it was moved in 2025, and the previous committee lost political backing and funding for constructing a new one at Les Ozouets at an estimated cost of £50m.
‘By the end of 2026, we will have got to the point where we will be going out and engaging with major stakeholders on our preferred solution,’ said ESC president Paul Montague.
‘We will be speaking with stakeholders in the profession, and in the community, demonstrating the process we went through, why we have come to the conclusion we have, and what the options were.’
ESC said this time last year that it was rethinking the project to relocate sixth form studies at Les Ozouets, alongside The Guernsey Institute.
At that time, Deputy Montague accepted that the project may no longer be viable, and said his committee was looking at a range of alternative options for the future of A-level studies.
Deputy Montague said yesterday that his committee had been right not to rush the decision-making process.
They did not want to destabilise that phase of education and had a lot of work to do to whittle down a lengthy list of potential locations and options to the few that were still being discussed.
‘The Sixth Form Centre is currently located at the former La Mare de Carteret High School, but this site was always intended as an interim solution and does not provide long-term certainty for this provision,’ the committee said in its work plan.
‘Demographic changes and the ongoing development of a broader range of post-16 pathways present an opportunity to ensure that the location of the island’s sixth form provision aligns with our ambitions for educational excellence, fairness of access and value for public investment.’
Deputy Montague said he did not know how long it would take his committee to move from announcing its preferred location to laying proposals in front of the States, but he was sure the Assembly would be able to resolve the issue and start implementing the long-term solution before the next general election in 2029.
ESC wants the Assembly’s backing before considering the decision final.
‘Just in terms of the psychology of the community, this is not something we would want to deal with at a non-political level,’ said Deputy Montague.
‘We need to make sure that the States is happy with the plans.’
As expected, ESC’s workplan also pledged a review of primary schools next year, in response to the declining number of children in the island.
Previous attempts to alter the number, location or services of primary schools have proved controversial, but Deputy Monague was confident that the island could be persuaded if the issue was addressed correctly.
‘Maybe I am naïve and optimistic, but I think if you present a coherent and rational plan over how to organise our primary estate, you can take people with you, so long as they are convinced that you are prioritising educational outcomes over everything else,’ he said.
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