Sark school plans progress

Tuesday 30 April 2019

Sark is pushing ahead with plans to send children over 13 to Guernsey for secondary education, despite some opposition.

Ahead of this week’s Chief Pleas sitting, the island's Education Committee says the majority of its five members support the proposals, believing it’s in the best interests of those children who will be studying for their GCSEs in the coming years.

The issue was first raised last year, with Chief Pleas discussing it as an alternative to on-island secondary schooling. Since then the Education Committee has come up with further plans to back up its view that Guernsey's schools can offer a good alternative to staying on at Sark School or homeschooling.

While Sark School, which is soon to get another new head teacher, could offer GCSEs, the Education Committee said; 

"You will see from these papers that, whilst it would technically be possible to provide taught GCSEs in the school, practically it provides several major challenges:

"The choice of subjects would be less broad than provided in any of the secondary schools in Guernsey, with the non-core subjects being dictated more by the interests and skills of the teachers we are able to recruit than by the skills and aspirations of the children."

There are very few children in Sark who will be affected by any change to the system initially, with none currently studying for their GCSEs. If Sark votes to send children over the age of 13 to Guernsey for secondary education, it will first affect three children in 2020, four in 2022, and none at all in 2024, with another three children due to turn 13 before September 2025.

Chief Pleas would fund the child's education in Guernsey but their parents could instead choose to homeschool them in Sark, or send them to school elsewhere. Accommodation costs in Guernsey have been raised as an issue for some parents, but the Education Committee has suggested that could be reduced if a family has more than one child studying in Guernsey at one time, or could be spread over a longer period of time with the assistance of charities which the Education Committee has already spoken with. 

The plans will be debated by Chief Pleas tomorrow, 1 May. 

Pictured: Sark's government building where Chief Pleas sit. 

The transition plans for moving to one secondary school over two sites in Guernsey are progressing. Speaking recently, the Executive Headteacher, Liz Coffey, said the two campuses will be fully operational by 2023, meaning a very small number of Sark students would be attending for the first few years.

Guernsey’s Committee for Education, Sport & Culture have been involved in discussions with Sark on this issue already to ensure the transition for those children will be well planned.

A spokesperson for ESC said; “the decision as to how to educate Sark secondary age children is properly a matter for Chief Pleas, but CfESC looks forward to working in partnership with the Sark Education Committee in providing secondary education in Guernsey Schools if that is the option that Chief Pleas decides on.”

Financially, the burden for educating Sark children through to the age of 16 will continue to fall on Sark or their parents, with no additional costs for Guernsey, said the ESC spokesperson.

“If it is agreed, there will be no additional cost to ESC as Sark will continue to pay for their education and the number of children involved is so small that they can be accommodated without the need for additional classes.”

Pictured top: Sark School.