Pictured: Deputy Matt Fallaize. 

“The Committee respects the views of those who marched and the sincerity with which they hold those views," he said. "We can all agree about the importance of education and respect that the different points of view now being put forward are held with conviction and the best of intentions."

Deputy Fallaize acknowledged the community is split on how it wants secondary education to be offered across the island, but he reiterated that the plans being pursued now are the ones democratically chosen by the States.

He also said that the group of deputies now pushing for a 'pause and review' have not given any alternatives to consider against the Lisia School model. 

“It remains the case that there is not much agreement in our community about how to organise secondary and further education. This is why it has proved so challenging for Committees and States Assemblies which have tried to lead change in education. The reforms we are leading were agreed because evidence supports the 11-18 model as the best way to provide high standards, equality of opportunity and value for money.

“The deputies who are seeking to reverse the current reforms are united only in their opposition. They are offering only criticism. They are offering no
solutions. Their requete does not even set out the schools which children will attend in the next few years once they have ripped up the current transition plan which has been known by parents and children for the past 16 months. Their requete is an invitation for the States to spend many more years searching through countless more potential models of secondary and further education with no clear policy direction. It is precisely why our Committee feels so strongly that those States Members seeking to reverse the current reforms should be honest about what model they will try to bring in if they are successful.”

Pictured top: Thousands of people turned out to a protest march on Sunday.