Guernsey's Education President responds to La Mare Sixth Form criticism

ESC says they are "working to make changes quickly where they are needed" following backlash on the Sixth Forms' move to La Mare.

Sixth Form students began studying at La Mare last week.

The move was deemed necessary to free up space at Les Varendes' site.

It has been labelled a temporary solution as the construction of the post-16 centre at Les Ozouets continues.

Despite the old high school in the Castel receiving renovations totalling more than a quarter of a million pounds over the summer, some students have taken to social media with concerns.

A post by 'Studentsz Unhappy' gained a lot of attention, noting overcrowding, a lack of parking, unhygienic environments and complaints about rule changes that remove freedoms the young adults were expecting.

Guernsey's Head of Education Deputy Paul Montague, who visited the site ahead of the opening, told Island FM he was disappointed to read the comments.

"It was a very unfortunate move; no one wanted to move the Sixth Form to La Mare.

"It came out because of a series of events to do with the businesses going bust, the Ukraine war, inflation, and not enough tax, so it wasn’t something we wanted to do.

"We hoped that it would be a smooth move, and it’s annoying to have these hiccups right at the beginning."

Deputy Montague disputes claims of overcrowding

"As schools go through the first and second week, I think students begin to realise you know where they can go, which classes and areas of the school are free.

"I think for just shy of 400 students, the site is big enough, and I think they’ll begin to own it quite soon, and you know it’ll work a little bit better."

He believes a timetable error on the second day at the site (5 September), when 150 students had independent study at the same time, is the reason for the complaint - this has been resolved.

Deputy Montague stressed that ultimately site is a temporary solution.

"I’m so so sorry for the students you are having to go down there, but we’re going to do our utmost to make sure that the educational outcomes are the best they could possibly be.

"Yes, there are some very disappointing problems that have occurred that we’re busy trying to solve, but on the other hand, all I’m getting is very good responses about the quality of the teachers and their relationships with the students."

Rule changes

The social media post that sparked the criticism of the temporary Sixth Form Centre also highlighted a couple of policy changes for the new cohort.

Students are no longer permitted to use their phones in class or study from home during free periods.

Deputy Montague has defended both these decisions.

He says teachers travelled to the UK to observe "some of the best performing centres" and adopted practices to improve educational outcomes.

With more than 30 years of experience in a classroom, ex-teacher Montague says he knows first-hand that phones are distracting and independent study at home is less practical.

A 'meet the tutors event' takes place on Thursday (11 September) for parents and carers to tour the site and talk to staff.

Deputy Montague hopes parents and guardians will take this opportunity to see first-hand how the students are being treated.