Education changes could impact public bus services

Monday 19 August 2019

Extending the school day could have an impact on public bus services unless Education, Sport & Culture can find a "sustainable and financially-viable" alternative to current provider CT Plus.

ESC has published a programme business case, which provides more details on how they intend to implement their proposals for two 11-18 colleges and a Guernsey Institute merging professional, technical and vocational studies.

The document outlines that the changes, which have a capital cost of up to £157m., will cost between £1.8m and £2.2m less per year in running costs than the status quo. 

"It is expected that the new 11-18 school will be fully operational by the start of the 2023/24 academic year," the business case says. "The financial models for the school have been prepared for 25 years to show the impact the project will have on the annual revenue budget from the academic year 2018/19 onwards. 

"The financial model for The Guernsey Institute assumes the organisation is fully operational as one organisation on one purpose-built site from 2023/24. It is anticipated that the revenue savings will be realised incrementally between 2023/24 and 2025/26, when the income-generating courses at The Guernsey Institute are fully in place."

Pictured: ESC will present their proposals to the States next month. 

The document acknowledges some of the transport issues that will arise from creating two larger schools and extending the school day to 4.05pm.

"The procurement of transport services is primarily affected by the 11-18 school project. The current contract for school bus services (either side of the school day) is via a contract with a single provider who is also one of the main providers of public transport bus services across the island.

"For this reason, there may be difficulties in meeting demand for public services because of the transformation requirements to extend the school day to 4:05pm three days per week. The budget for this service is currently held by the Committee for Environment & Infrastructure. The Committee for Education, Sport & Culture will continue to work closely with colleagues to explore avenues to ensure that a sustainable and financially-viable service can be provided for the future.

Pictured: A timeline showing work completed to date and when further developments are expected to happen. 

"This may mean introducing a separate contract for school bus services, potentially with a different provider. Travel to school patterns and take-up levels will be key drivers and these will become clearer as the Programme progresses. This work is currently in development. 

"Transport is also required during the school day (to aid the transportation of students to sports fixtures, swimming lessons and to playing fields off-site from one of the two colleges within the 11-18 school). Further work will be carried out to determine the best value approach in the short, medium and long term."