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Deputies who see the "pause and review" requete as a way to re-visit selection will be forced to reveal their true intentions, after two Deputies put forward an amendment to try and rule it out once and for all.
Selection has already been debated several times in recent years, with two narrow votes in favour of moving to a non-selective system and a failed bid earlier this term to retain the Grammar School on a temporary basis during the transition to a new model.
Deputies Lindsay de Sausmarez and Jennifer Merrett want the States to agree that any comparison or consideration of alternative educational systems "must exclude models that involve selection by academic ability or aptitude.”
"The wording of Proposition 2 [of the requete] states that a comparison and subsequent consideration of models of secondary education “must include [...] models of non-selective educational delivery”. Models of selective educational delivery are therefore not ruled out of this comparison.
"This amendment seeks to make explicit, for the avoidance of doubt, the fact that only non-selective models of secondary education will be considered in relation to this proposition."
Pictured: Deputies Jenniffer Merrett and Lindsay de Saumarez noticed that the requete did not rule out selective models of education.
Deputy De Sausmarez is also involved in a different amendment that seeks to address transport and infrastructure concerns over secondary education sites.
"Travel Plans – when done well – are very effective ways of reducing the problems associated with high levels of car usage for journeys to and from schools: peak hour congestion, air pollution, road safety issues, greenhouse gas emissions, public health expenditure and productivity impacts, for example. They maximise transport choice, make travelling more efficient in terms of time and resources, and help to create accessible, connected and inclusive communities.
"School Travel Plans are already part of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture’s proposals, but this amendment is to ensure that the work can be appropriately resourced and initiated as soon as possible, in order to best support the transition to new sites."
Pictured: Concerns have been raised about the traffic around the two school sites under Education's plans.
Deputies Emilie McSwiggan and Jennifer Merrett have also submitted an amendment to the requete in a bid to ensure that its "significant implications" on the rebuild of La Mare de Carteret Primary and the Guernsey Institute are fully acknowledged and not overlooked.
"The Requete will have a direct impact on the timetable, and quite possibly the plans, for redeveloping La Mare de Carteret Primary School and the Guernsey Institute for further and higher education
"This is unavoidable if a comprehensive comparison of secondary education options is to be carried out. But the children who go to the primary school and their families, the students who attend the Guernsey Institute, and the staff at both establishments deserve, at the very least, a commitment from the States that they will not be overlooked in this review."
The amendments can be read in full here. The amendment by Policy & Resources can be read here.
All of the amendments will be debated next week, at the States meeting starting on Wednesday 26 February.
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