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Families in Herm "already have a clear direction" for the future of their children after the closure of the island's only school, according to the President of the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture.
The decision to close the Herm school for a year trial has been put under the microscope by deputies who are keen to better understand the future for the island’s students.
In May this year the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture announced its decision to shut Herm’s school and send all primary school aged children in Herm to Vauvert Primary in St Peter port on a one-year trial basis from this September.
The controversial decision was met with criticism by parents of children going to the Herm school.
Deputy David De Lisle asked the President of ESC during yesterday’s States debate if consideration could be given to reverse the decision to close the school, or at least review it, so “families have a clear direction for the coming school year”.
He was told by Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen that families do have clear direction, “which is that the four children will be guaranteed education for the next academic year, during which time their arrangements will be reviewed”.
She said the committee has not made a call to review the decision before the end of the school holidays. Deputy Dudley-Owen also sought to clarify that the school hasn’t actually been officially closed, but that a trial is being undertaken to educate its students elsewhere for a year.
Deputy Gavin St Pier asked what the criteria would be for determining if the trial had been a success or not.
“Reviews will be undertaken termly on the success or otherwise of the trial period to ascertain the wellbeing of the children, the educational outcomes, and practicalities such as the ease with which they can travel backwards and forwards to the island,” said Deputy Dudley-Owen.
“I should imagine that they will be rather sensible, pragmatic things that you would undertake in the course of a trial to see whether or not it's been successful.”
Pictured: The decision to close the school for a trial was met with concern from the public.
Due to a keen interest in the topic several deputies then put questions to Deputy Dudley-Owen, several of which weren’t allowed due to them not arising out of the answer to the original question from Deputy De Lisle.
Deputy Adrian Gabriel asked if a year was long enough, to which Deputy Dudley-Owen said “yes”.
Deputy Carl Meerveld asked if the trial would be considered a failure if all the families who have pupils in Herm decide to leave the island.
“The consequences of Herm being completely emptied as a result of the four children being educated in Guernsey for the duration of the trial period is extraordinarily unlikely,” replied Deputy Dudley-Owen.
Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller queried whether the trial had already failed, because of the strong representation from families who don’t want the new set-up, to which Deputy Dudley-Owen said she didn’t agree.
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