School's 'devoted' teachers working to achieve what States could never do

Now, I would have to say that this is incorrect. The teachers at that school are nothing but kind, compassionate, caring and devoted to the pupils who are under their supervision and knowledge. They pour their hearts and souls into their jobs and I have seen them pushing to get pupils the grades that they need to succeed in the world beyond the school doors. In a world that the States are in control of and a world where if they say that they were educated at La Mare de Carteret, they will immediately be shunned and treated as if they are dirt off people's shoes. Those teachers are working to achieve what the States could never do. They are bringing up and educating a better, more developed generation. A generation that hopes to rid this world of the bad and of the parliament and States members who will belittle and depreciate those who they feel are not worth their time, effort, or in this case, money.

Teachers at La Mare de Carteret have been faced with bad press for years but they have pushed through, they have managed to up the grades of pupils who have been determined to prove the people of Guernsey wrong, to prove that we were not troublemakers or stupid.

I started at La Mare in 2010 after reports in the papers had told my young and impressionable mind that it was a school that would not educate me to the extent that was needed for me to succeed. I then went through my years of education knowing that wherever I went I would be judged based on the logo that I sported on my blazer. I went to school in a building that was falling apart, flooding and full of asbestos (yes, this is true, and you would know if you had ever set foot in that building). But I was taught by teachers who wanted the best for me, who wanted me to get as many GCSEs as possible, never mind what I was going through or what they were going through. After four years of education, two hip operations and countless breakdowns I came away from La Mare in 2014 with six GCSEs at grade C and above. I am not a failure, and neither are the teachers who successfully taught me in a building that was not up to standard, in a society that did not believe that I would achieve or that they would achieve in teaching me and on an island that was against everything La Mare stands for.

You may think that closing and demolishing La Mare is the 'only logical' approach, but when you demolish that building, you demolish the hopes and motivation of both teachers and pupils. You also risk losing some of the best teachers on Guernsey that I know of, that I have ever been taught by. I may not live on Guernsey any more but I do care about the school that encouraged me to be myself, to defy the odds and to achieve what I wanted to achieve. La Mare not only teaches young adults but educates them in a way that can only be described as excellence. The teachers at La Mare have gone against all odds and have succeeded in educating several generations of bright, intelligent young men and women despite the odds being stacked against them. To see the school closed and to possibly see teachers lose their jobs breaks my heart.

I have nothing but good things to say about La Mare de Carteret and many others do too. We may have faced problems in the past but we have gained qualifications in conditions that pupils should not be subjected to.

I just hope that the States of Guernsey see this and that they understand that an island with only three schools and a population of over 60,000 will not necessarily be a successful island.

No matter how much money you put into them, no matter where the pupils are from, it is about the morale of the teaching staff and the student body.

An island like Guernsey with its shortage of staffing in HSSD and in Education surely needs as many people as possible to fill these positions. You are not going to be able to do this by recruiting off-island alone.

You are going to need locals, born and bred, who are willing to work with the States and who trust in the States to allow for Guernsey to prosper with the times.

Surely to improve something that is not seen to be perfect, you need to improve from the inside out, therefore would it not be more effective to begin improvements by starting with the States themselves and working outwards, slowly but surely you will begin to find that everything else falls into place and with the current negativity towards schools this cannot be achieved unless it is understood that it is not, in any way, the fault of the pupils and teachers at La Mare.

My name is Kaila Shepherd and I am a former pupil of La Mare de Carteret. I currently live in Orkney and I am now going on to study at the University of the Highlands and Islands.

I am in no way a failure. Neither are the teachers, current students, former students or future students of La Mare de Carteret.

KAILA SHEPHERD, 16