Mother's education concerns over sixth form update

A mother says she is concerned uncertainty over the construction of a new sixth form will cause disruption to her children's education.

The proposed plans for the Sixth Form Centre, at Les Ozouets Campus, Guernsey, have been reviewed after the education committee reassessed the timeline to lay the foundations.

Parent Jo Morgan said it felt like a "kick in the teeth", and she feared uncertainty would impact her children's education.

Paul Montague, Education, Sport and Culture President, said "we're not going to rush out with a plan and a promise which is not thoroughly thought through and fully sustainable".

Morgan has a son, who is doing his GCSEs, and was part of the move from La Mare de Carteret to Les Varendes.

She said "we're so far along, you would think the timeline would be finalised and nothing more would change".

She said despite the best efforts of the teachers, she would like a more concrete plan.

She said "you can't have a crystal ball to know what the GCSE results" will be, "but of course no disruption is always favourable when you're looking at education".

Morgan said she hoped her daughter would not be disrupted by the uncertainty.

"We always knew that the new sixth form was not going to be ready for him [her son], but I've got a 12-year-old [daughter] and we thought at least maybe she will get the benefit of all of this disruption, and she'll do her final school years in the new Sixth Form Centre, but even now that is looking unlikely."

The foundations for the Sixth Form Centre were scheduled to be laid in autumn 2026 as part of the first phase of works, followed by the second phase anticipated in 2028 or 2029.

Education said the foundations had not been laid, so they would not degrade by the time the next phase starts.

A timeline for foundation and final works has not been issued.

Discussions about the future of sixth form education have taken place over the past decade of so.

Montague said: "What our committee and everyone working in education is trying to do is to make sure we have stability in the system now.

"The only bit of instability is the actual location of the sixth form.

"But parents and students need to know that we will be providing a high standard of sixth form education"

Prioritising the quality of education is what Guernsey mother Karen Archenoul agrees with.

Her daughter, Hollie, attended La Mare in her secondary years and is now at the sixth form there.

Archenoul said: "Everyone wants the best for their children and what's happened in the past decade is bound to have an effect on what everyone is thinking for the future.

"As much as we can be negative about everything, I think that we've got to encourage the positive, because the teachers are doing the best they can under the change that's happened massively over the last 10 years so we need to give them our backing."

Former Deputy Carl Meervled, who was on the education committee in 2016, said: "La Mare de Cartaret School is still being used and it should have been demolished 30 years ago.

"So that should have gone and we should have a new campus that's fit for purpose and... improve the retention of teachers and covered teachers to come to the islands. We've got good facilities for them."

Montague added: "We've inherited a system where there has been a lot of turmoil since the decision to remove the 11 plus 10 years ago.

"So many different committees have presented plans and one thing our committee is absolutely keen on is we're not going to rush out with a plan and a promise which is not thoroughly thought through and fully sustainable for a long time into the future, because then another committee will come along and overturn it so we're being pretty cautious about this"

Currently, there is no finish date for the Sixth Form Centre.

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