AN OVERPSEND of over £4.5 million in Jersey schools was driven by the rapid expansion of frontline staffing to keep children and staff safe, alongside a sharp rise in pupil numbers and increasingly complex special educational needs, the Education Minister has revealed.
Deputy Rob Ward said staff budgets had been overspent “predominantly in special schools and on inclusion support in mainstream schools” after more frontline staff were appointed than originally budgeted.
He explained these appointments were made “to address safety issues for both children and staff to meet individual needs”.
The Education Minister was responding to a written question from Deputy David Warr, which was prompted by a JEP article revealing that schools across the Island had overspent their budgets by more than £4.4 million by the end of October 2025.
Special educational schools were among the worst hit, with Mont à l’Abbé in a £1.27m deficit and La Sente/La Passerelle down £845,559.
With just 211 pupils between them, this put the deficit across both schools at around £10,000 per student.
The Education Minister refused to respond to queries from the JEP at the time.
But in the recent written question, Deputy Ward said that a “sharp increase in the numbers and complexity of special educational needs across primary and secondary schools” had intensified pressure on budgets across the system.
Schools have also been hit by higher day-to-day running costs, according to the minister, who said non-staff overspends were “due largely to increases in the costs of essential supplies and services”, with some schools also facing one-off building costs to create meal serveries in primary schools.
Deputy Ward did not announce any immediate cuts in service provision, but confirmed that headteachers are now being overseen by school finance boards where budgets are under strain “to enable the school to return to a balanced budget”.
“It is recognised there are pressures in relation to the provision of inclusion support in
schools and this requires careful consideration over time,” he added.
It comes after the JEP exposed concerns from parents of children La Sente/La Passerelle, who described the Island’s alternative provision for pupils with additional needs as a “dumping ground” operating in buildings they said were unfit for purpose.
Parents told this newspaper that their children were being taught in temporary cabins, sometimes in hallways, with limited access to outdoor or sensory spaces, sudden timetable changes and reduced school hours imposed at short notice.
And a government-commissioned report into special educational needs provision, published at the end of last year, found leadership, strategy and accountability “not sufficiently effective” across Island schools.
While “pockets” of good practice were identified, independent reviewers concluded that “too few disadvantaged or vulnerable” pupils are having their “full range of needs met”, and that a “lack of clear leadership and management, coupled with changes in priorities at the highest level, have resulted in an enduring sense of turbulence and uncertainty”.
Reviewers also found that there was “insufficient transparency” around how the Island’s budget for education and inclusion was being used.
