A spokesperson for the States Property Unit and the Education Office has defended plans to move multiple different staff into the Sixth Form Centre building when it’s vacated this summer, saying it’s demonstrating a good use of taxpayers money.
Music Service, SHARE, Careers, and Youth Commission staff are all set to move in to the vacant space at Les Varendes High School when the Sixth Form Centre moves to La Mare de Carteret this summer.
They’ll be joining civil servants working for the Education Office, and other education staff including the Psychology, School Attendance, and Inclusion Services, who are all also moving to the Les Varendes site later this year.
In a joint statement, the States Property Unit and Education Office told Express that the decision has been made because it “makes the best use of taxpayer-owned property”.
Some of the rooms at the current Sixth Form Centre will also be used to deliver training to Education and States of Guernsey staff in the future, which the joint spokesperson said would “thus further reduce costs of venue hire”.
“These moves align with our goals regarding States’ property rationalisation, which aim to make the most efficient use of taxpayer-owned properties, support us to vacate sites we don’t need, save money on rent or generate money via leasing or selling vacated properties,” said the spokesperson.
The Sixth Form Centre is moving to La Mare de Carteret this summer, ready for the new term starting in September.
There’ll be no changes to the primary school, but the High School is shutting once the final GCSE students have taken their exams.
All other students that were attending, or would attend, La Mare de Carteret High School will instead be educated at Les Varendes High School.
ESC has previously explained that there isn’t enough room at Les Varendes for all high school pupils and the sixth form students because some of the sixth form lessons are taken in the high school part of the building.
ESC is estimating 1,300 students would be going to Les Varendes in September if the Sixth Form Centre stayed there.
The joint spokesperson for the States Property Unit and Education said that’s why the decision to move the Sixth Form Centre to La Mare de Carteret remains the right decision.
“The current Sixth Form Centre is being moved to La Mare de Carteret because there simply isn’t the room to accommodate what would be approximately 1,300 students in total on the site as it is now, without significant reconfiguration,” they said.
“This is the approximate number that would have attended the site if the Sixth Form Centre had remained, alongside the increased number of students attending Les Varendes High School once its merger with La Mare de Carteret High School completes this September.
“Part of the pressure the Sixth Form Centre would have put on the wider school was in using a significant proportion of teaching space in the main school building, as the Sixth Form Centre building is not big enough for the Sixth Form Centre to be self-contained.”
The decision to use the current Sixth Form Centre facilities at Les Varendes for education staff, rather than for actual educational purposes, has been defended again however – with the joint spokesperson saying that there will be far fewer staff using the site, than the number of students it was originally built for, just 20 years ago.
“While there isn’t the space currently to retain almost 400 students and staff of the Sixth Form Centre, there is enough space to house various services with a combined 130 staff, many of which are peripatetic in nature so in reality there will be far fewer on-site at any given time.
“It was identified that it would be both an efficient use of the space and be a great hub to deliver professional support services into schools and as a training venue for States of Guernsey staff.”
While the news that the current Sixth Form Centre facilities would be used by education staff and not Les Varendes High School students in future came as a shock to members of the public this week, it also surprised deputies.
Deputy Peter Roffey said he was “not just shocked” but was “vexed” to read the news when it broke on Monday.
Deputy Yvonne Burford said this added to the uncertainty over where the Sixth Form students will end up in the long term, while Deputy Aidan Matthews reiterated what he has pushed for in the past, saying that the Sixth Form Centre should stay where it is.
Express understands that other deputies have also been pushing for more details on the arrangements for the Sixth Form Centre this week.