Education money best spent on teachers

The Education Department has done itself no favours by giving the impression it has no proper plan for education requirements and the effect of any change regarding entry for the Grammar School with the contentious matter of 11-plus exams and has been sent away to make one up, but what grieves me more than anything is that in the whole of the debate no one is prepared to stand up and simply say we cannot afford to spend £60m. on one school under any circumstances and I question the mindset of the people in the Education Department and Robert Sillars for thinking they could just walk through this sort of expenditure without it being challenged.

Would it not have been better if there had been a budget for this project agreed before anyone started looking at a design?

If you were designing a house the first thing you do is give the architect an idea of how much you can afford, the same with any building requirement, and anyway why agree something which is so obviously stupidly expensive?

The island does not have the money, and if it had, it would be unreasonable to spend it on one school against other requirements. And anyway, you just do not need to spend this amount on a school of this size.

I have said it before and will say it again, in the UK this size of school would be expected to come in under £20m. If the island cannot build for close to this cost it is either that the specification for the school is too high or there is some fundamental problem with the location.

Money for education is best spent on good teachers and not fancy buildings as many of my age know – we were educated in old cold rambling Victorian buildings. Kids get used to that, but what made the difference was the quality of the staff.

G. M. OLDROYD,

St Martin's.

Editor's footnote: Deputy Robert Sillars, Education Minister on behalf of the Education Board, replies: I would like to thank you for the opportunity to respond to your correspondent and would note that I have replied to a number of similar letters making similar points in the past. All the information in my response is freely available in the department's States reports, appendices and other public information which is available at www.education.gg/LMDC. I will keep my response brief.

• The £60m. is not just for one school. The project includes a new high school for up to 600 students, a new primary school for up to 420 pupils, a new communication and autism base for up to 36 children, a pre-school, a sports hall with spectator seating for up to 500 people, which can be used by the island’s sporting community for club level competitions and training out of school hours, plus a small suite of rooms for community use.

• The project, with an estimated price tag of c£60m., was approved through the States Capital Prioritisation process in 2014 as one of the States pipeline projects to receive funding from the capital reserve.

• This estimated price (£60m.) is based on industry approved £/m2, which was used during this stage of the project as do all construction projects. The actual price of the project, which cannot exceed £60m., will be known once the contractors have tendered for the project. This follows the RIBA plan of works and States of Guernsey SCIP and project assurance processes.

• The estimated construction cost of the high school is £31m.

• All costs have been benchmarked against other on-island and off-island school building projects and found to represent value for money.

• The rebuild of La Mare de Carteret High School is selection neutral, i.e. it is required whatever the future structure of secondary education.

• Recruiting and retaining excellent teaching staff is a priority for the department.

• Well-maintained Victorian school buildings are fine; 1970s buildings constructed to last for 25 years along with a series of portacabins are not.

Everyone agrees, even the independent experts appointed by the Treasury and Resources Department, that La Mare de Carteret Schools buildings are no longer fit for purpose and no longer provide appropriate facilities for delivering a modern curriculum.