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The project to build new post-16 education facilities at Les Ozouets is now in such an advanced stage it’s too late to go back, Education has warned in a new booklet, saying “huge amounts of progress” has been compared to the two-school model.
Nine myths are presented in a new briefing document produced by the Education department as politicians prepare to debate which major capital projects should go ahead, and how to fund them.
In it, Education denies costs for the project are “spiraling”, despite recognising delays to the build and high inflation have pushed costs up.
“The cost increases associated with this delay do not translate into a wider loss of control over the Programme’s budget. Indeed, the Programme has taken a number steps since the issues of late 2022 to counteract increasing costs,” it said.
Around £6.8m worth of savings have been identified in the design of the campus and decided to relocate, rather than purpose build, a new location for the Communication, Interaction and Autism Service.
The Committee shoots down the idea that the proposed purpose-built sixth form centre at Les Ozouets will cost £100m, saying this part of the project will cost a maximum of £18.8m, while the rest of the site, dedicated to the Guernsey Institute, will cost up to £98.1m.
“The campus will provide new facilities for the full breadth of The Guernsey Institute’s provision, a specialist sports centre, shared spaces for all the students using the Campus (such as a library), and functional salons for students in areas such as hair and beauty. It does, of course, also include the Sixth Form Centre,” it said.
New roles for teachers, staffing structures, and a coalescing of management for the secondary schools, which will also oversee the new sixth form centre, are also progressing.
Pictured: A tender is yet to be appointed for the Les Ozouets project more than a year after RG Falla Ltd were sacked as the main contractor.
It also denies it is spending millions to move the sixth form down the road from Les Varendes: “Les Ozouets is the best site to realise this vision, as it gives space for the necessary facilities to be created, and for all of the island’s post-16 students to study."
Education said there is already “insufficient space” at the current sixth form centre to take on more students, and studies have shown adding extra space will come with “significant” costs and be disruptive to students and teachers while works are carried out.
Other publicly owned sites are not appropriate due to the investment as most of them are end of life and already suffering from subsidence, it added.
Sixth form students will be temporarily moved to the quickly emptying La Mare De Carteret High School after the contract to re-build Les Ozouets was terminated by the States late last year.
There have been fears that the deteriorating building will need substantial investment to make it suitable for studies, potentially for many years, until the new campus is complete.
Education said “it will not be expensive to ready it for sixth form students in an appropriate and cost-effective way”, claiming those works will cost £141,000. But it accepted the site isn’t a viable solution for more than a few years.
Pictured: Policy & Resources says the hospital modernisation project and Les Ozouets cannot both proceed unless the States agrees to tax and social security form, and to borrow up to £350m. to avoid depleting the island's cash reserves.
Nick Hynes, Director of Education, said: “We have put together this booklet to help the community understand some of the key elements of the model we are working towards, and also try to bust some myths we regularly hear."
Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, Education, Sport & Culture President, added: “It has been increasingly clear that there is a range of misunderstandings and inaccuracies being stated as fact about the States’ plans for the re-organisation of secondary and post-16 education.
“Some are legitimate misunderstanding; however some opponents are I believe willfully misunderstanding. It is in that context that I asked the Education Office to produce a factual document to bust some myths.”
More information can be found HERE.
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