According to Education, Sport & Culture President Matt Fallaize, all students in mainstream States’ schools will have access to a range of subject choices and facilities which cannot be provided in each of the four existing schools.
Deputy Fallaize’s Committee has also released information today about the capital costs of the educational reforms.
“Inequality of opportunity is built into our current system. Students have different opportunities depending entirely on their 11+ results or where in the island they live,” said Deputy Fallaize. “This cannot be right and will be addressed by the introduction of the One School/Two Colleges model over the next few years.”
“For example, opportunities to study Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) vary from school to school – not just between the Grammar School and the High Schools but between the High Schools. Some students can take GCSEs in two languages from a choice of three while others can take only one.”
Deputy Fallaize said a higher proportion of students will be able to take their first choice combination of subjects than is possible currently. For example, both Colleges will offer triple science at GCSE as well as options in French, Spanish and German and a broad range of options in the Humanities, Arts, Technology and other curriculum areas.
The highest quality facilities in the sciences and technology, which are currently available only to some students, will be available to every student in the two Colleges.
In terms of physical education, Deputy Fallaize said all students in the two Colleges will benefit from indoor swimming pools, modern sports halls and gyms or dance rooms.
There will also be “significantly improved” Multi-Use Games Areas which allow sports to be played in all weathers.
“The current inequality of facilities affects opportunities in physical education. Some students do not have swimming pools on site to allow them to swim all year round and not all students can benefit from the same range of sports throughout the year.”
The Committee is releasing details about how the new model will work ahead of publishing the policy letter this Friday.