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Take cover – if you intend to challenge this school
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From J K Craddock.
IN his letter (JEP 8 March) the Head of Haute Vallée School states that 59% of tax-paying parents send their children to fee-free schools.
Those who have done the sums will appreciate that the remaining 41% save the States Treasury a ton of money by paying school fees to supplement the moderate subsidies which those schools receive from the States. Their children get a good education at a reduced cost to the Island.
This is the kind of deal which should have a thrifty Education Minister oozing pleasure, if not quietly laughing his socks off. Without the fee-paying private sector, general education costs could rise significantly.
Still on percentages, it is claimed that a 43% rate of selection by ability is damaging Haute Vallée School and needs to be reduced. Parents with children in no-fee schools are exhorted to protect their youngsters from ‘excessive selection’, so as to maintain a ‘healthy balance’. Which suggests resisting transfer to another school at 14+.
Let’s call a spade a spade. This stuff comes across as a nudge-nudge, wink-wink call for a decisive move in the direction of a universal comprehensive system. However, there are two formidable barriers standing in the way.
Firstly it would be necessary to shrink the fee-paying sector considerably, and that would involve a severe and escalating reduction in subsidies to the schools. I should point out that there are two fee-paying schools in the public sector (Victoria College and The Girls College). I assume that these two would also be affected. Increased costs would follow.
Secondly, and equally important, we have a no-fee, selective school, also in the public sector, which actually creams off significant numbers of brighter children from the four States comprehensives. Logically, it would need to be dismantled and re-appear as the fifth States comprehensive. I am, of course, referring to Hautlieu.
For some half-century Hautlieu has provided free academic opportunities to Jersey children. It has a record and an ethos which stand comparison with any school in the Island. Among the generality of the population Hautlieu has form – of the right kind. People know a good thing when they see it.
Consequently, anyone with the temerity to challenge openly the status or integrity of Hautlieu should first go out and buy a tin hat, to be worn as minimal protection against the hail of teak which would hurtle onto his hapless head.
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