SPP school could be better option
WELL, that's not difficult eh? Education department's preferred option £108m., as compared with the other option at £122.3m. Obviously the big difference between the two options is the cost of the College of Further Education. It would appear that a refurbishment of the Les Ozouets site has not been considered because the full range of facilities required there could not be provided. It is many years since I was head of business studies at the college but certainly the greatest need was for classrooms – and the old St Peter Port school has these in abundance. I have recent experience of seeing these as I take my granddaughter to the school for choir practice each week. They appear to be in a state of good repair and the hall looks to be in excellent condition.
A refurbishment of the classrooms for the C of FE together with the provision of workshops could be a much better option.
The reasons that I put these forward are:
a. the apprentices need to have classrooms as well as other students and
b. it would enable the college to be on one campus – an important point since its ethos is that of a student/adult approach. This is something which is much appreciated by most students, who respond well to this environment as compared with the school environment from which they have come.
I do not wish to take up too much space over this but I must mention that Nick Mann's article last week was to the point. I have not had the opportunity to see the PwC report, but it could be seen from his article that they were concerned with 'number crunching' – e.g. the comparison with numbers in the UK as compared with the Guernsey situation.
It was mentioned that the apprenticeship here is five years – whereas it is in fact three years and produces excellent results. My stepson completed his technician course at the college in motor engineering and at present works for the AA in the UK training new recruits. The Guernsey situation is different from the UK and needs to be considered from a local perspective. Perhaps all the firms which send students to the college were consulted? Times are changing and I would assume that this must be an important part of the education consultation.
I am not suggesting that I know all the answers but I felt it important to point out that the options one and two seem to be loaded to bring about the answer that Education desires.
D. SUMMERS.
