La Mare paying price for Education's obsessions

This is most definitely not the case.

Blame for this delay lies with the Education board and department and they should be held to account.

For years this department has been spending money like water on significant capital projects and using the buzzphrase 'the importance of education' to justify spending. Yes, St Sampson's and Les Beaucamps are very fine buildings, with a nice environment and an award to boot. But as schools they are over-engineered and their design could have been more conducive to learning had the input from teaching staff been listened to. Proper layout, good-sized classrooms and assembly areas, wide corridors and decent facilities all built to a robust standard that will take the knocks inflicted on it by schoolchildren. Climate-controlled window opening and twee door handles are not appropriate and are a waste of taxpayers' money.

T&R are right to put the brakes on and while this is now a great disappointment to the teachers and pupils at La Mare, it needs to be stressed that had the Education Department not spent so much money on rebuilding the two new high schools to such unnecessarily high standards they could have brought the island three appropriately designed and fit-for-purpose schools.

The importance of rebuilding LMDC should have been the sole focus of the Education board during their term in office. If they had done this the school would have been built by now, ready for the start of the 2015/16 term. Instead they produced their 'Vision' document, a nebulous and vacuous work that gave little away of their true plans. They have closed two primary schools unnecessarily. Through the ill-conceived severance package they have overseen a mass exodus of senior and experienced teachers at a huge cost to the island's purse. They have introduced a so-called 'federated' system, which has resulted in shortening lesson lengths and increasing class sizes. This, combined with their new focus of data collection and predictions has resulted in less teaching time, which is causing greater stress on an already demoralised teaching staff. Further distrust has been caused through their lack of transparency and openness, head teachers and senior staff are merely the puppets of the Education Department, drip-feeding change without consultation.

Everyone agrees that LMDC needs to be rebuilt, but why is it so expensive and so much larger than it needs to be? Education are sticking to their argument that their forecasts show pupil numbers will increase, which flies in the face of their argument for the closure of St Andrew's and St Sampson's. No, the aim they are hiding is that by having the three oversized high schools, they will be able to close the Grammar School.

Our schools need support and this is not being given by the Education Department. They do not listen to the teachers who have been telling them for years what will help them, which is supporting schools to instil discipline, but this is simply ignored. Such an initiative will bring the most dramatic change and will improve results at very little cost.

The Education board and department have made a lot of noise about their vision but in reality they only have blind obsession; this, combined with their refusal to listen and engage with the teaching staff, has destroyed what was once a prized education system and this is going to have a serious impact on the ability of our children to gain qualifications that allow them to complete in an increasingly global market.

G. ANDREWS,

Castel,

Editor's footnote: Education minister Robert Sillars replies on behalf of the Education board:

It is difficult to respond to a letter which contains so many inaccuracies and contradictions. However, I take exception to your correspondent's assertion that we have ignored teachers, pupils and parents and that the Education board is responsible for the delay to the much-needed rebuild of La Mare de Carteret Schools.

All schools that have been built as part of the Education Development Plan have been designed to be energy-efficient and sustainable with a lifespan of at least 50 years and a design that is flexible to cope with any future changes in the delivery of education. All have been built to the latest building regulations and have followed the required States processes for securing States funding for capital projects. All have been delivered on time and within the States-approved budget and in the order of priority approved by the States. They have all been built with value for money in the long term as one of the prime drivers.

All these projects have involved the users of the buildings, teachers, students and parents, at the very start of business planning and throughout the development of detailed designs into the construction and operational phases. This involvement has been acknowledged and supported by independent post-implementation reviews and user surveys after the buildings have been occupied.

The Education board is determined to get the rebuild of La Mare de Carteret Schools (that's the new high school, new primary school, new Communication and Autism Unit, pre-school, enhanced community and sports facilities) under way as soon as possible and believes it has fully justified the scale, scope and specification of the project and that the project represents value for money for the island community as a whole. The department is required to follow States processes as per the States Capital Investment Portfolio, which has meant more than two years of planning and project review to get to this point. Following these processes has meant it would never have been possible to open the new schools in 2015.

With regard to some of the other assertions made by our correspondent, I would note:

It is a myth that the order of rebuilding the high schools has been varied from the original programme. La Mare de Carteret has always been the third in the sequence of the three high school projects.

The original EDP1 programme, however, was extended at the request of Treasury and Resources in order to spread the capital cost over more years.

The case for the closure of the two primary schools was fully researched and evidence-based and even with these closures the department still has significant spare places in its primary school system. The department believes the closures will help improve standards and will also deliver significant savings.

The voluntary severance package was a States-wide initiative. There were specific criteria that had to be met and the scheme resulted in significant savings.

The Guernsey Federation of Secondary Schools, the development of which is being led by the secondary head teachers, has had no impact on class sizes, which still remain favourable. The harmonisation of timetables across schools, which is part of the federated approach, has in fact resulted in more teaching time rather than less and is broadening students' access to qualifications and providing opportunities for greater collaboration and support between staff.

The Education Department has not recommended the closure of the Grammar School. We have been fully transparent about our intention to review the current system of selective secondary education and we highlighted this in our Vision paper laid before the States in July 2013. We also devoted seven pages of our LMDC States report in November last year to detailing the five exploratory scenarios which had been considered by the Education Department 'should a decision be taken in future by the States to change the Grammar School from being a selective entry institution' and we did this to show that the case was able to be made for the rebuilding of LMDC irrespective of whether selection at 11 remained or was removed.

The department always tries to consult with staff and the wider population on major changes to the structure of education in line with the Principles of Good Governance, for example the new 14-19 qualifications framework, the Vision, the streamlining of the 11-plus process etc.

We listen to and engage with staff but sometimes have to make difficult decisions based on the wider needs of the service, on financial grounds or in terms of efficiency.

Improving educational outcomes for all our children and young people remains at the heart of what we do.