Tuesday 22 October 2019
The Committee for Education, Sport & Culture has secured the extension of Les Beaucamps High School site by nearly 3,000m2 as a result of the purchase of Delisles Methodist Church and land.
This will improve educational, traffic and parking facilities at the site as part of the development of the new model of secondary education. The school will become de Saumarez College as part of the new single Lisia School and will offer 11-18 education, including sixth form studies.
The external land purchased is likely to provide significant additional parking. It will also ease traffic flow by opening up another drop off point to the west of the site without the need to access the existing school car park.
The additional internal space - which comprises the Church and the Church hall - has numerous potential uses which will now be explored by the Committee, school leaders and others.
The additional internal space could house co-located education, health and care services which work closely with secondary school students and their families. The States have approved the concept of co-located facilities at the new 11-18 colleges and authorised funding to construct the necessary facilities. Bringing together education and health and care services at the new 11-18 colleges will make it far easier for students and their families to access key professional support and advice. Less time will be lost to education in attending appointments during school time and there will be opportunities for much closer multi-agency working. Space could be provided for clinical rooms, potentially for use by school nurses and other health professionals, Children & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), social workers and educational psychologists.
Alternatively or additionally, the extra internal space could provide a venue for the arts which would benefit students and the wider community. It could host exhibitions which could be open to the public and provide working space for local artists as well as students studying art at higher levels.
A further option for consideration is the creation of a fitness suite for the new college, which would add to the internal space for sport and physical recreation, including for students studying physical education at higher levels.
If a business case cannot be successfully developed for the Church, it is possible that the Church could be sold to offset other development costs on the site, but the Committee does not foresee any circumstances in which the Church hall or surrounding land would be sold or not used productively by the new de Saumarez College.
The States paid £1 million for the land and buildings. This sum was included in the £69 million approved by the States in September for the development of the new Lisia School, which requires extensions to form Victor Hugo College at Baubigny as well as to form de Saumarez College at Les Beaucamps. The two new colleges will provide all compulsory States' secondary education by 2023.
Deputy Matt Fallaize, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, said:
"The purchase of this additional land is an important step forward. We identified the need for it when we selected Les Beaucamps as a site for one of the new 11-18 colleges. The additional space will improve the experience of students and staff at the new de Saumarez College. My Committee is very grateful to States' Property Services and Delisles Methodist Church for working together over the past few months to negotiate a deal which was satisfactory to both parties and which will help us deliver first class facilities at the new de Saumarez College."
Liz Coffey, Executive Head Teacher of Secondary Schools, said:
"This is another important step forward in further developing the first class facilities which will be available to our students at the de Saumarez College site and across our new school. The innovative and imaginative ideas have the potential for the venue to become a cultural and health promoting centre of excellence, supporting the well-being and learning for our students, staff and the wider community."
