Exciting plans for post-16 education form major part of Committee's proposals

Wednesday 05 July 2017

Post-16 education will be transformed as part of the Committee's proposals for the future structure of secondary and post-16 education published today.

The plans include moving to a three-school secondary education system through the merger of La Mare de Carteret High School and the Grammar School creating a new secondary school which will initially operate across two sites until 2023 when the last selective intake to the Grammar School complete their GCSEs in Year 11.

The Committee is proposing to build a new secondary school on the La Mare de Carteret playing fields site which will allow the existing Grammar School buildings at Les Varendes to be dedicated to a new way of delivering post-16 education from September 2024.

'I'm really excited that moving from four to three secondary schools has unlocked a tremendous opportunity to do something different to improve outcomes for our post-16-learners,' said Committee President, Paul Le Pelley.

'We will create a Post-16 College on the Les Varendes site which will cater for all full-time post-16 courses and qualifications including A Levels, the International Baccalaureate, BTEC and other applied and vocational courses. They will all have access to the same pastoral support and enrichment opportunities as well as a greater range of subjects and qualifications. Having all these courses available through a single institution will allow students to mix and match courses and ensure we can provide equality of opportunity for all our young people.

'We will also be using Les Ozouets campus as a Training College for part-time courses such as apprenticeships, higher level courses and adult learning. The Training College will work closely with the Institute of Health & Social Care and the GTA University Centre as well as the full-time Post-16 College and local employers. This will ensure duplication is avoided and improve efficiency as well as provide training in response to community and industry needs,' said Deputy Le Pelley.

The Committee's proposals are in line with previous States decisions to end selection at 11 and move to three all-ability secondary schools.

'Previous States decisions and of course the need to deliver education more efficiently have guided our thinking, but it has been the interests of our children and young people and our staff that has been the main driver for the transformation we are proposing,' said Deputy Le Pelley.

'We will not revisit any of the previous States decisions. We know the education system we want to create, but even more importantly we know how we are going to get there. It is the way that we transition to any new structure - ensuring that our children's education is not adversely affected, ensuring that we are able to retain and recruit excellent staff, ensuring that we can make efficiencies along the way - that is critical.

'Our three-school model keeps children and staff together wherever possible. Our post-16 proposal allows us to use some of our existing buildings in the most efficient way and minimises the overall capital costs of any new facilities required. We believe our proposals meet the needs of our pupils now, throughout the transition process and into the future by providing sufficient school places in line with the projected pupil population.'

The Committee can confirm:

• All children placed at the Grammar School or high schools this September and in September 2018 will remain at their allocated schools until they complete Year 11
• Those placed at the Grammar School through the 11+ selection process will remain in a selective intake on the Grammar School site until they complete their GCSEs
• All those selected as a special placeholder at the Grant-Aided Colleges will continue to have that place fully funded until they complete their education (either Year 11 or Year 13)
• The Sixth Form Centre will continue to operate on the Les Varendes site following the merger of La Mare de Carteret High and Grammar School and be included in the Post-16 College on opening in September 2024.
• The College of Further Education will continue to operate as now until the Training College opens in September 2024

The move to the new three-school structure will begin in September 2019. This means that those children who will be first to transfer to secondary education under this new structure are those currently in Year 4 (in school year ending July 2017).

Primary schools will partner with the three secondary schools with pupils from four to six primary schools transferring into each secondary school as follows:

Transition to the new secondary school will be as follows:

• In September 2019 all those attending the primary schools partnered with the new secondary school going into Year 7 will go to the Les Varendes site.
• In September 2020 all those going into Year 7 from the primary schools partnered with the new secondary school will go to the La Mare de Carteret site.
• In September 2021 they will all move into the new secondary school buildings together. Years 10 and 11 will remain on their existing site until they complete their GCSEs.

The 400+ sixth form students will also remain on the Les Varendes site throughout this transition process.

Detailed transition plans are included in the Committee's main proposals document.

The Committee's proposals are first and foremost about the education to be provided through any new structure but also include plans for new facilities.

'We have looked carefully at the size and layout of our existing buildings to ensure we are making the best use of what we have and so minimising the requirement for capital funding for any new buildings,' said Committee Vice-President, Carl Meerveld.

'We have also looked at phasing our building works; prioritising what we need now and what can possibly wait. We have also worked hard to reduce the cost of any new builds whilst making sure we retain the expected quality and durability of materials.'

In summary, the Committee is proposing the following building works:

• New 8 form entry secondary school (up to 960 pupils) on La Mare de Carteret site with a target opening of September 2021. To minimise the cost, the Committee is proposing not to build the community facility or pre-school included in the original plans at this time. We will phase construction with the external works and primary school to follow. In line with advice from educational specialists, rather than building a separate all-age communication base on the site, as included in the original redevelopment plans, young people with autism or communication difficulties will be supported by integrated bases within each of the secondary schools for greater inclusion. The primary base will continue at Amherst
• The new secondary school will include enhanced sports facilities for use by the community
• Refurbishment and modification of existing Les Varendes buildings (now more than 30 years old) to form the Post-16 College
• New build workshops and possibly other facilities on Les Ozouets site for use by the Training College
• Possible extension or temporary accommodation at Les Beaucamps to cater for increased pupil numbers (subject to further ongoing feasibility study)

'We still have some more detailed work to do on the costings, but at the moment we are estimating an overall capital cost in the region of £108m phased over seven years with around £52.2m needed for the first phase. Our proposal will also bring about savings in operating costs of very roughly £1.5-2m per year compared to the cost of operating a four school model in 2024,' said Deputy Meerveld.

'This is good news as we were previously expecting our operating costs to go up in this period because of increasing pupil numbers.

'We feel that our proposal not only represents the best solution in terms of the delivery of education.  It also allows the smoothest transition to protect the educational outcomes and is the least costly of all those considered.'

The Committee is encouraging public feedback on the proposals and welcomes communication with all interested parties.

'We know it's a long document to read so we will be sending all households a short leaflet which will provide a summary of our plans,' said Deputy Le Pelley.

'We have also planned a series of parent meetings and other engagement opportunities starting next week to ensure that we are able to understand and address any concerns that parents may have, answer any questions and listen to the community's views. This will help us formulate a Policy letter to bring to the States for approval towards the end of the year.'

The Committee has also considered and costed some other possible future structures for secondary and post-16 education. All other options are considered less favourable for a variety of reasons including not delivering acceptable educational outcomes, greater cost, difficulty of transition, risk of insufficient pupil capacity, current condition and layout of buildings and lack of flexibility for the future. These options are outlined in the full Transforming Education document.

All the documents are available online at www.gov.gg/educationfuture and people can email any questions or comments to educationfuture@gov.gg

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