Should we be closing schools?

Much has been made of the fact that Education’s latest proposals are based on sound research that multi form entry schools are of greater benefit to students than one form entry schools. It is only a supporting argument that closing some smaller schools will save substantial funds year on year.
 
Now forget for a moment the educational argument.
 
As an Island we need to save money and here is a set of suggestions which will save some £800k a year. So where is the problem?
 
“Education shouldn’t be about money” I hear you cry.
 
Ok, then let’s continue to run some 600 empty slots for primary school children and let’s keep spending that £800k every year.
 
But we still need to save money.
 
So where is it to come from?
 
Can’t touch Education but of course similar arguments can be made for Health and for virtually all of the other services which our government provides.
 
Yes, we could and should look at our Civil Service in every department and shake that tree until the overripe fruit fall off but that still won’t give us the level of savings we need.
 
Something needs to be cut, money needs to be saved, and every department should contribute to that saving.
 
Could Education make this degree of savings from elsewhere?
 
Probably not, but they haven’t told us where else they’ve been looking so there might be scope. Perhaps they have some ripe trees of their own outside of the central citadel, a place which, by the way, still seems immune from attack itself.
 
Many people wouldn’t regard the Schools Music Service as essential and scrapping it could make a substantial long term saving. Even just means testing applicants and charging those who clearly can afford this luxury item would save a reasonable amount each year. I know the deputy director has close connections to and a good understanding of the value of this service but that shouldn’t rule it out from some harsh impartial scrutiny.
 
Then we have the money paid each year into our private education system in acknowledgement of the financial burden they release from the rest of us by taking some well off offspring into their care.
 
Also, if the States prove a good quality of education, why are we still pursing the anachronism of sending our top young students out of the system and into scholarships at the colleges?
 
Either acknowledge that the private sector are making a better job of education or stop all future scholarships immediately. If that’s too rich a medicine, then at least means test scholarships and stop bright little Jemmima’s family from pushing her into our system just before the 11 plus so that she can compete for a free pass to college.
 
There are too many OBs and OGs in positions of influence to let it happen but the States should stop supporting the private sector education market full stop. Call their bluff and see if this flood of students back into the state sector will actually materialise. I suspect it will turn out to be a trickle but even if I’m incorrect, what’s wrong with giving full and complete support to the state sector you are supposed to be promoting and running?
 
There is still a lot of work to do with our Education system and I remain unconvinced that we have a central core willing to even acknowledge that the fault lies in part with themselves and their seeming inability to deal with the real problems causing the so called failure in some of our schools.
 
I am also convinced that the people who make the decisions which matter on this island are too closely connected to the private education system to do anything which might prove detrimental to its continuance.
 
So, no savings there then and we are back to the basic question. 

How do you reduce the Education spend?
 
Tinkering at the edges won’t provide the level of saving required so something drastic must be done and closing a school or two might just be the long term answer.
 
Or is it?
 
Primary schools may have surplus places spread across the board but do individual schools physically have the space to accommodate these children? Many are old buildings with small classrooms, built at a time when cramming bodies into rows of desks was how it was done.
 
The modern classroom and up to date teaching techniques need more space. They need to allow for children to circulate around the room, to allow for desks to be moved into different configurations for different lessons. Planting children back into tight rows of desks is not the way forward but it is the only way to cram additional children into these existing classrooms unless you intend to build on the additional space needed. Building comes at a cost and this should be factored into the equation.
 
Then we need to look at staffing costs.
 
If there are surplus spaces elsewhere then none of the teachers in those schools slated for closure will be needed. They won’t be made redundant as Education never sack teachers except in extremely exceptional circumstances. They will be found jobs in the short term and will be used to fill vacancies as they naturally occur.
 
This seems sensible until you start thinking about all of those students off island learning to become teachers. Will there be any jobs available for them when they graduate and want to return to their island? Or is the money we’re paying for their university fees to be wasted as we don’t actually need then for a few years. On that basis, perhaps we’d better stop sending students into teacher training for a while until we actually can project just what jobs might be available.
 
This education lark’s complicated isn’t it.
 
Maybe there just aren’t the opportunities to make the level of savings needed from education. Maybe they just don’t exist and maybe these latest proposals will not turn out to be the money savers they seem.
 
That then brings us back to the basic argument that multi form entry schools offer better opportunities and greater flexibility.
 
If that case can be proved, then this is the start of something much bigger and something which is long overdue. Banish the concept of parish schools as such and look at the island as a whole. Follow the demand and put the schools where they are needed. If the west only needs one school then close either La Hougette or The Forest. If the north needs more places, then extend one of the schools up there.
 
St Andrews is not helped by it’s location on any count. The site itself isn’t ideal and being central to the Island, it is easy to relocate pupils outwards. That fact alone makes it an ideal candidate for closure. Even if it were an excellent school it is still in the wrong place and it’s function can be carried out by equalty good schools with equally good teachers.
 
If this school is the heart of the parish then something is wrong. 

Any school may and should be part of their local community but if it is the heart and soul then there can’t be much else to that area. In short I simply do not believe that St Andrews is all about the school. It may be a focal point but the building will still be there when the school leaves and it can still be used as a community asset. That particular argument just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
 
St Sampson’s Infants, the other prime candidate, should have closed years ago. Again, it might be a lovely school but it is a model which has been replaced. Infant schools have been amalgamated into Primaries and are the better for it for many reasons.
 
We have tasked and trusted Education to provide a service worthy of the Island and this is part of it’s way forward.
 
We either trust these professionals to do the job they are qualified for or if we doubt their competence we then need to replace them.
 
In short, you don’t buy a dog and bark yourself.