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Teachers in a local union are welcoming the planning application for a new post-16 campus at Les Ozouets. But they say they still do not know how it will be managed or staffed or what will be offered to students who study there.
The National Education Union said it awaits "a coherent vision" for the project, which is the single largest part of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture's £105million reorganisation of secondary and further education approved by the States last summer.
The project will move sixth form studies from Les Varendes and co-locate them with The Guernsey Institute in brand new buildings at Les Ozouets.
The States have delegated authority to the Policy & Resources Committee to sign off up to £105million of capital costs for the Committee's reorganisation - the vast majority of which will be spent on the new post-16 campus.
When submitting the planning application earlier this month, the Committee's President, Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, said the project would be a "cultural game changer" for education in the Bailiwick.
The National Education Union (NEU) has now told Express that it "welcomes the plans for the new post-16 campus which it is hoped will be a centre of ambition and aspiration" but that it would like more clarity on how it will operate for students and staff.
Pictured: The Committee for Education, Sport & Culture hopes that its new post-16 campus will be fully operational in September 2025.
"It has not yet been made clear how the [new] Sixth Form Centre will be staffed and managed," said the Union.
"In order to retain the staff we have and to recruit new staff over the next three years, there needs to be a coherent vision for this site.
"It is not clear how many staff will need to travel between sites in order to maintain the breadth of provision currently on offer whilst also having enough staff full time at the campus to continue providing the pastoral care and educational support our young people deserve.
"We also await confirmation about how the Sixth Form Centre will operate alongside The Guernsey Institute to allow the site and resources to be effectively shared whilst each maintains its own culture and identity."
Other elements of the Committee's reorganisation include closing La Mare de Carteret High School and providing 11-16 studies from St Anne's in Alderney and from three locations in Guernsey: Les Beaucamps and St Sampson's, as now, and Les Varendes by turning what is currently the Grammar School - albeit with comprehensive cohorts in Years 7, 8 and 9 - into an 11-16 school.
Pictured: The NEU represents teachers across secondary schools as well as in the primary phase of education locally.
The NEU said it hopes the focus on developing new post-16 facilities at Les Ozouets will not detract from the importance of supporting students at the 11-16 schools.
"Our teachers have expressed concern that resources also need to be directed towards the three 11-16 schools to ensure that all learners are able to receive a high quality education," said the Union.
The Committee recently announced a delay in the target completion date of its reorganisation. When presented to the States last summer, the target completion date was 2024 whereas it is now 2025.
This means La Mare de Carteret High School will need to remain open a year longer and that the reorganisation will conclude after the island's next general election.
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