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Every primary school child will take part in new cultural enrichment activities this term.
They include studying nature with La Société Guernesiaise, learning more about science in a specially created dome, an arts programme based on the work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and making a play about transition for older children who are about to move to secondary schools.
The activities are part of a new permanent scheme which the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture has introduced across primary school year groups to provide children with opportunities during the school day which would normally exist only outside of school.
The Committee will spend £150,000 a year on the new scheme, which was agreed in August 2020 at the last meeting of the previous States’ term.
The funds have been reallocated from the States’ budget for Family Allowance, which has been withdrawn from households earning more than £120,000 a year. This means there is no additional cost to taxpayers.
Pictured: Children at La Mare de Carteret Primary School have been enjoying learning more about science in a specially created dome which is visiting all primary schools on the island.
“This is for every child, in every year group, every year,” said Kim Hutchison, Head of Primary Leadership and Development at the Education Office.
“The term Ofsted use for it is ‘cultural capital’. It is about providing children with enriching cultural experiences while developing knowledge and skills."
Ofsted has defined cultural capital as "the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said, and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement".
Mrs Hutchison said: “It allows all children to experience things which they may not experience in their normal school curriculum and embed knowledge and skills that they will be learning in their school curriculum but in a different way.
“So far, it is going very well. The feedback from schools is that children are loving it.”
Pictured: Children in year three will take part in a six-week arts programme based on the French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who produced a number of famous paintings while he was in Guernsey in the summer of 1883.
Mrs Hutchison said that the £150,000 available for the new scheme had been allocated in a way which was fair to all schools and maximised value for money.
“Initially, each child was allocated an amount – about £38 per year. For schools with a large number of children, that would be great…but it would work less well for smaller schools,” she said.
“We talked to head teachers about pooling the money, so that we could make sure that all our children in all schools, including in Alderney, got a fair and consistent deal from enrichment. All head teachers were onboard with that, which was great.”
This funding model has allowed all children in a year group to access the same activities and experiences across all schools.
Pictured: The Accidental Zoo is one of a number of organisations partnering with schools to provide culturally enriching experiences to all children in States' primary schools.
“The activity or experience can take place only in the school day, so that we are not disadvantaging children who do not access things out of school for whatever reason.
“What we are offering each year group is constant. For example, what we offer in reception in one year should be offered in reception the following year. That means a child who transfers schools between years is still getting the same experiences.
“For me, one of the key things [about this scheme] is that every child in our island experiences the same thing. That’s really important. No child is limited by a school’s capacity to put something on or by the resources in a school or because a teacher does not have the qualifications for a particular activity. This is universal provision.
“We’re not limiting children by their ability or inability to attend things after school or at weekends or in school holidays. This is all within the school curriculum.
“I feel that it’s a really good use of £150,000 a year to allow all our children to have these additional experiences over their seven years in primary school.
“Collectively, head teachers feel that what they are doing here is for the good of every child on the island.”
Pictured: The cultural enrichment programme is being led by Kim Hutchison, Head of Primary Leadership and Development.
The withdrawal of family allowance from the highest-earning households and its reallocation to children's services goes back to an amendment laid before the States by former Deputy Mark Dorey in 2015. His amendment led to the proposals approved in August 2020, which were presented to the States by then Deputy Michelle Le Clerc, and which also included cutting the cost of a child's appointment with a GP or nurse and offering every child an annual free dental check-up.
When the States approved these proposals, they directed "the Committee for Health & Social Care and the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture jointly to publish evidence of the impact of these changes two years after their introduction".
Mrs Hutchison said: "We’re taking feedback from each year group’s activities to understand the impact. We will assess it and modify if necessary to make sure it’s highly tuned and we’re really getting value for money."
Pictured: The Guernsey Sports Commission is providing some of the activities in schools, including traditional playground games.
Reception: Nature education with La Société Guernesiaise.
Year 1: Interactive story telling and coding.
Year 2: Traditional playground games with the Guernsey Sports Commission and science in a specially created dome.
Year 3: Working with the Accidental Zoo and a six-week programme of art based on the paintings of Pierre-Auguste Renoir put together by Arts for Impact.
Year 4: An encyclopaedia for every child together with expert instruction on using it and activities based around Guernsey's coast with the Guernsey Sports Commission.
Year 5: Poetry workshops and publishing their work in a book.
Year 6: A play about transition ahead of their move to secondary school in September.
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