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John Singer is very hopeful that the small school on Herm will stay open and if not - he warns the island will struggle to recruit staff, which may impact his plans on the future of his tenancy.
Along with his wife, Mr Singer is the leaseholder of Herm Island.
They are responsible for Herm's year-round upkeep, which requires a staff of tens of people working in different areas including horticulture and hospitality.
While not being intended to make a profit, Herm Island is run as a business with the intention of all money being reinvested into the island's facilities for the benefit of its residents and guests.
Mr Singer is known to put his hand in his own pocket to help when there is a shortfall, including during the covid pandemic, but he has said that closing the island's primary school will affect recruitment which will affect the island's management.
Having expressed his disappointment and concerns over the trial closure of the school for the upcoming school year, Mr Singer has now welcomed a Requête which was lodged yesterday to try and reverse that decision.
In May this year the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture announced its decision to send all primary school aged children living in Herm to Vauvert Primary in St Peter Port on a one-year trial basis from this September.
The decision was met with criticism by parents of children already going to Herm school, pre-school aged pupils living in the island and past pupils as well as Mr Singer and others.
The trial could be scrapped though, if the Requête is backed by a majority of States Members when it's debated during the States Meeting due to start on 6 September. That is the same day all States-educated primary school pupils are due to start school for the new term.
Speaking to Express after the Requête had been formally lodged with the States Greffier yesterday, Mr Singer could not control his pleasure.
He said his initial reaction to the Requête was "yippee" and that he is "hopeful" that it'll be successful so the small primary school can reopen just a day or two into the new school term once the matter is debated early in September.
The Requête which has been lodged by Deputy David de Lisle, and backed by Deputies John Gollop, Carl Meerveld, Chris Blin, Lester Queripel, Steve Falla and Yvonne Burford, asks the States to "direct the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture to reinstate the on-island provision of primary education for children who are resident on Herm".
The Requête also claims that parents of pre-school aged children were not asked their thoughts on the proposed trial closure of the school, and that they should have been as it affects their children when they start school, and that recruitment to key roles in Herm could be affected by the closure of the island's school which would be attractive to parents moving to the island to take up employment.
Pictured: Deputy David de Lisle is leading political efforts to save Herm School.
Mr Singer reiterated his fears over the impact of closing the school on recruitment yesterday.
He said sending four-year olds on the ferry between Herm and Guernsey daily, throughout the year, is not something most parents will want to do "...in my opinion", adding that "hopefully common sense will prevail."
Mr Singer is disappointed nothing can be changed before the new term starts, but he also thinks this could have been avoided if Education, Sport and Culture had spoken to the parents of the youngest children living in Herm.
"You can't send a four-year old on a ferry," he said, "an eight-year-old yes, but what mother will want to send a four-year-old on a ferry everyday, even if they're accompanied by someone."
Mr Singer continued: "...to talk about a trial when you haven't got any young children in the school is is utter nonsense. The children who are younger than four - and we've got half a dozen on the island - they haven't been consulted, and they're the ones that it will directly affect over the coming couple of years.
"The ones who are already eight plus are quite capable of going on a ferry. They're quite used to it. It won't be a problem for them at all but four-year-old children...it's a no."
Pictured: A new member of staff is to be employed by ESC to travel to and from Herm daily with the island's primary school pupils.
Children living in Herm who are already at school already attend Vauvert for lessons one day a week but Mr Singer said that is not always smooth sailing.
"It's a big difference between one day a week, and five days a week. One day a week is intended to break them in gradually. There's often enough bad weather in the winter anyway so what is intended to be one day a week becomes one day a fortnight, or one day a month.
"And you've got this thing now about 'well, they can do it remotely on their computers' (if the boat doesn't go) and the parents can supervise them. But their parents work, they don't sit around doing nothing at home."
Mr Singer's long term concerns may revolve around recruitment to Herm's key worker roles and the island's economic prospects, but he is also deeply concerned about the educational prospects facing Herm's children.
He said the education they had received courtesy of Mrs Carey was second to none.
Pictured: Comments from parents of children living in Herm have all been against the trial closure of the island's small primary school.
"It just seems like a change has been made for the sake of doing it," he said, "...because they think the poor children of Herm are deprived. They think that unless you're educated in a large school in an urban environment, then you haven't got the benefit of modern urban life.
"I'm afraid I just can't possibly accept that a school with four children are deprived."
Mr Singer has attended events at the school during his 15 years running the island and said they have always been "wonderful".
"The final Herm School concert at the end of term, the four children stood on the stage and spoke for about an hour putting across Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. They spoke with such confidence.
"The oratory skills that Mary Carey has managed to get and the confidence she's managed to inject into those children is amazing. The performance brought tears to your eyes to see how competent and strong they were.
"The Herm school has operated very, very well and brought out the best in no end of pupils. I can't accept that it's an inferior form of education and that's what's really driving this."
Pictured: Vauvert School will welcome all of Herm's children for lessons from September.
With the trial closure now underway and Herm children due to start at Vauvert in less than a month, the Herm School has had some of its equipment removed.
Mr Singer said that won't take long to put back if the Requête is successful and he's hopeful that it will be for the long term success of the island community.
"I'm very hopeful for the future term that it's going to be reversed. This is a crazy decision. I'm 79 years of age, I'm not going to have any kids going through the school but soon enough, the States will need another lease holder for the island...it just doesn't help the management of the island.
"How on earth am I supposed to employ people to perform responsible roles and retain those who already have young children aged around two years of age? They have made it very clear that they will leave and I respect that decision. It's the only responsible decision a parent could make."
The ESC President challenged that idea when she answered questions about the trial closure of Herm School in the States last month.
“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,” said Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen.
Mr Singer was there for that debate and said he was pleased to see the support which has now led to the Requête being lodged.
"I'm very delighted to see the degree of pushback that's emerging from the States. I've attended from the public gallery a couple of recent discussions of the matter and there is very strong support for reversing the decision."
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