Plans for two 1,400-student schools are just not viable

His comments centred on: ‘The real problem… highlighted by the unions is with the inadequate designs of the new schools’.

Nick Mann referred to the surveys released in November by the NEU and NASUWT, where the serious dissatisfaction of the teachers about the current state of affairs and the one school on two sites plans were revealed.

Now, further serious opposition is revealing itself. On 19 December under the headline Douzaines join forces to oppose bigger Beaucamps, one of the douzeniers is quoted as saying, ‘The Douzaines want people to be aware of exactly what is being proposed before it is too late’.

We agree with this and that is why we used the sursis motive during the September debate, to try to achieve a delay and which also requested the committee to take further action.

The sursis required the committee to present the detailed evidence, which would have included the results of any consultation with the professional teaching bodies via stakeholder engagement sessions to the States for proper scrutiny in the form of an outline project business case.

These sessions would also have provided an opportunity for the douzaines and other stakeholders to have their say, to challenge and to make constructive suggestions to deal with the impact of the infrastructure surrounding areas of each school site.

At that time, unfortunately the sursis was defeated.

Since then, however, we have witnessed an outcry of opposition not just from the teaching profession, but from the public and some douzaines who now believe that the plans for these two 1,400-student schools are just not viable in Guernsey.

Including ourselves, 13 deputies (Paint, Brouard, Trott, de Lisle, Kuttelwascher, Gollop, Leadbeater, Le Pelley, Meerveld, Inder and Lowe) supported this sursis, but the Press has so far failed to mention this in the Opinions it has published. Furthermore, in addition deputies Ferbrache, Laurie and Lester Queripel voted against reorganising education in one school on two sites.

It is important that these facts are not forgotten, because the community need to know that some politicians remain in touch and engaged with public challenge.

We now further note the Press Opinion on page 16 published on 20 December 2019. It warns ‘it is time to be explicit and address the matters head on. If not this is all in danger of unravelling’.

We would like to inform your readers that we, along with Deputy Meerveld, will be submitting formal questions this month in response to the Traffic Impact Assessment and the submission of the building plans to the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture.

We are also considering laying a requete to stop at this stage any further implementation of the plans for one school on two sites until after the 2020 election in June.

In January, we are debating the terms of reference for the fiscal review because Guernsey is not raising sufficient taxes to meet the current level of expenditure on public services.

It is surprising therefore that, knowing this, a majority of deputies remain resolute in supporting the one school on two sites model despite mounting evidence that it will lead to poorer educational outcomes, which will have a direct effect on our economy and the ability of our community to contribute to the public purse required to keep Guernsey running. The effect of this education policy could be very damaging to our future success.

We believe that the short-term effects of shoehorning these mega schools into the constrained parochial infrastructure with the daily problems that will bring to the community, the negative effects of an inadequately resourced teaching staff on the educational outcomes of the children, alongside the long-term effects of the impact on our economy, is more than justification to bring the requete.

This policy is not right for Guernsey and we will continue in our efforts to overturn it.

DEPUTY ANDREA DUDLEY-OWEN AND DEPUTY ROB PROW

Andrea.dudley-owen@

deputies.gov.gg

Rob.prow@deputies.gov.gg