HIGHLANDS College could get a town shopfront for its hairdressing course so Islanders do not have to “trek” to its St Saviour campus for a haircut.
Rachel Baxter, associate director of policy and strategy for education, made the comments to the Children and Education Scrutiny Panel.
The government has proposed moving Highlands College from its current site to a new, purpose-built campus in St Helier as part of its 25-year capital investment strategy.
Education Minister Catherine Curtis was asked about a planned new further and higher education campus and said a new site would those who “do not want to leave the Island” and those who want access to a more “affordable” education option locally.
Ms Baxter said that the current campus is “quite old” and that “modern further education and higher education requires much more flexible buildings and much more flexible provision”.
Rather than having rigid department spaces, a redesigned building would allow them to “create a new vocational technical pathway”… you might close it down for two years and then open it up again,” she added.
Ms Baxter hoped for a “fit-for-purpose, future-proof building” and added it should be “in town, closer to employers to be able to get work experience”.
The college currently advertises a ladies’ cut-and-finish from £18, gel nails for £18 and a gents’ cut and finish for £10 – a fraction of prices charged by commercial salons – through its hair and beauty courses.
“The whole point of vocational learning, technical learning, is that you have a front-facing organisation. Highlands does that really well at the moment with its restaurant, with its hair and beauty areas,” Ms Baxter said.
“But it’s a bit of a trek. People have to choose to go there.”
