Education wants three 11-16 schools with single sixth form

Monday 08 March 2021

Three 11-16 schools and a single sixth form co-located with the Guernsey Institute could be the answer to years of debate over the future of secondary and post-16 education, it has been revealed this morning.

The Education, Sport & Culture Committee has announced its 'guiding principles' for the final stages of its review of secondary and post-16 education.

Education say that discussions with professionals have led them towards 11-16 schools at St Sampson's, Les Beaucamps and one of La Mare de Carteret or Les Varendes. The suggestion, subject to further investigation, is that a sixth form centre will be co-located at Les Ozouets with the Guernsey Institute. 

I hope this is a plan that people can get behind and support . The opportunities that the Co-located site could bring would be amazing for all post 16 & adult learners. With the increase in level 4&5 courses being explored currently it is an exciting time on “adult education”

— Oli Davies (@oligsy) March 8, 2021

Pictured: The announcement coincides with the re-opening of Guernsey schools following the coronavirus-enforced lockdown. Some of the early reaction commenting on the co-location plans. 

As things stand, the committee is still under States resolution to deliver a comprehensive review of different education models.

The way forward approved by the States last March - which Education will ask the new States to rescind later this month - requires the committee to directly compare secondary school systems consisting of three 11-18 colleges; two 11-16 colleges and one 11-18 college; two 11-18 colleges; and the model favoured by the new committee. 

Education President Andrea Dudley-Owen said keeping the sixth form on one site was "one of the top priorities for secondary teachers" and that her committee’s direction "aligns with the electorate’s wishes" for a three-school model. 

"Having started from the strategic “top” and stated the aim of education, the committee has been developing its guiding principles as a foundation for the future of secondary and post-16 education. We sought feedback from secondary school staff and States members before Christmas and continued to refine our thinking as a result."

Pictured: Just last week, Deputies Tina Bury and Adrian Gabriel pushed for a commitment from Education, Sport & Culture that all the educational models they are bound to review by the previous Assembly will be presented to the States to enable a like-for-like comparison. 

She said: "The extensive consultation carried out with staff last year, via a survey in June and workshops at each of the four mainstream secondary schools later in the year, played a key role in shaping these principles. We also considered the current economic situation, our future recovery and ensuring we were laying the building blocks for an education system which is fit for the 21st Century. 

"For many years discussion on the future of secondary education has hinged on plans for the sixth form. Any model which has a sixth form centre co-located with an 11-16 school could at best create a perception of students who attend that secondary school benefiting from a different educational offer and at worst it creates a school which effectively morphs into an 11-18 school over time.

"The creation of a post-16 campus, where a sixth form centre and The Guernsey Institute are co-located and seek to maximise operational synergies while remaining separate organisations, has the potential to create a truly adult learning environment for the island, into which all of our students will graduate after completing their Key Stage 4 studies."

The announcement comes with the caveat that further engagement is scheduled to take place before the committee finalises its recommendations in a policy letter to the States, which it plans to publish on 10 May. 

Pictured: Education is still under resolution to provide like-for-like comparisons between four systems of education and report back to the States with its findings. 

Deputy Dudley-Owen warned that while that report will answer many of the questions raised by this morning's announcement, some operational and technical details will not be completed by then. 

"The committee’s announcement today will give rise to many questions about the details. Some of these questions will be answered in our policy letter in a couple of months, some will take time to work through once the States has provided its direction on the secondary and post-16 policy we want to adopt for Guernsey’s system of comprehensive education."