Reject schools delaying requete

As parents of two children currently in Year 6 and Year 4 at Vauvert Primary School, we are asking all States members to please reject the delaying requete for the following reasons:

We are not experts; in fact there are very few people in this debate that can genuinely claim to be so. However, we are parents who, like thousands of other parents and children in Guernsey, are being negatively affected by the ongoing uncertainty caused by a few members of the States looking to undermine a decision that has already been made.

Most important for us, and parents like us, is that the elected States of Guernsey act decisively. We have accepted reluctantly that our oldest child will spend the first two years of her secondary education at a school that looks like it is falling apart while the newly expanded schools are readied. That said, a school building is just bricks and mortar and we can only hope that the children’s education will not be disrupted too much by being moved around or the state of the classrooms they are being taught in.

What is more important is the quality of teaching available to the new schools. Which brings us to our greater concern – that the disruption to date is having a detrimental affect on the island’s ability to recruit and to keep the best teachers. This, we fear, will negatively impact on the secondary education that our children will receive and some damage has surely already been done here. More disruption will, therefore, create far greater damage in this respect.

The two-school model that has already been voted for by the States may not be perfect, but neither is the three-school model or another as yet un-debated option. There is understandable concern by parishioners about the traffic flows around the schools; these concerns will exist and require solutions whatever the school model. But that is not a reason to reject a proposal that has already been passed. There are also concerns by sections of the teaching profession, which is again understandable. Will there be any fewer concerns with a different, as yet undefined schooling model? We think not and therefore do not believe that the decision made should be in any way delayed.

In relation to whether the two-school or the three-school model is the best in terms of value for money and educational outcomes, the debate could go on forever, but we believe the worst possible outcome for all our young people and the teachers in the States-run school system is further delays and disruption. For their sakes, and the sake of our island’s future prosperity and wellbeing, it is imperative that the States of Guernsey does all it can to allow all of Guernsey’s children to reach their full potential, so please do not subject our children to further delays, disruption and uncertainty. Reject the requete.

SIMON AND KATE SOLE

Address withheld.