Unions sound the alarm on education

The States has not long signed off on a project to transform the system, with pledges that the two 1,400 pupil colleges, after £78m. has been spent on the buildings, will offer equal opportunity for all.

That is clearly not how the teaching staff see it.

The impression from NEU survey responses is that the squeeze, particularly on the Les Beaucamps site, means that there is a lack of space for non-teaching areas, insufficient sports facilities, problems anticipated with lunchtime and that splitting sixth form provision will damage it.

The sense of feeling is strong – 73% of those responding did not think the plans for Les Beaucamps are fit for purpose, 64.8% have that view of St Sampsons High.

Fewer than 3.8% were currently confident the transformation will improve the pupils’ learning experience.

Talks are taking place with Education, Sport & Culture, so it may be some of the problems can be overcome by communication, but the impression from this survey is that the committee is racing towards a deadline with a danger that costly errors could be made along the way.

It is worth noting that it emerged only after the States agreed the programme that La Mare had come out on top of initial site analysis, with Les Beaucamps scoring badly on available space.

This is a once in a generation chance and ESC has a challenge on its hands to deliver it in an efficient and cost-effective manner. No one wants to end up with a system and teaching facilities that are a step backwards, especially when millions of pounds are being spent on the two schools.

Education needs to get this right the first time. This is not the time to hastily push ahead only to later have to patch up costly errors that could have been avoided, while pupils’ education is compromised.

The professionals involved have sounded warnings that ESC needs to answer, but the way things have progressed there is an increasingly limited window of opportunity for change.