Let's talk about Herm School
ONE thing which has been apparent during (another) protracted saga, this time over the future of Herm Island’s tiny school, is a disappointing lack of compromise.
The island community has come out fighting for its school this week. Who would blame them? Who would feel comfortable with the idea of putting a young child, potentially not much older than a toddler, on a 20-minute ferry ride, each way, most days of the week, all year-round?
It’s clear that the provision of the school serves as an asset for families with children to be able to invest their futures in the island.
The process has not been helped by a ham-fisted efforts from Education, Sport & Culture to explain its approach. It’s not about savings, we’ve been told, it’s about safeguarding. But then then that’s couched with a sharp intake of breath over the prospective cost of £200,000 to educate one child.
Surely the States has a responsibility to provide education for the children of Herm. But that responsibility probably doesn’t necessarily extend to the provision of a school, or a class, on-island.
So if it means so much to the Herm community, where’s the negotiations, the prospect of compromise?
This ongoing wrangle does not appear to have involved much direct contact between the parties. That’s surely a discussion worth having?