11 November 2016
A delegation from Jersey joined a Crown Dependencies trip to China in the week after half term to build on educational links.
At the invitation of China’s Han Ban Institute, Jersey’s Chief Education Officer, Justin Donovan, together with the head teachers of Grainville, Victoria College, Samares, Grouville, Les Landes and the Jersey Music Service visited primary and secondary schools in Shanghai.
Mr Donovan said “Jersey already has strong and growing links with Chinese schools established during the first trip and through Hautlieu’s twinning with BaYi High school in Beijing, and this has had direct benefits for our students, providing opportunities for educational trips of the highest quality, Mandarin tuition and personal links with fellow students in a different culture.
"It’s important for children from a small community like Jersey to understand the world outside the Island, and creating links with large countries that have completely different lifestyle and history is an important and valuable part of their education.”
Hautlieu has been awarded Confucius Classroom status and the link with BaYi, the former school of the current Chinese premier, was strengthened during this visit when the head of Samares School formally confirmed a twinning with BaYi Primary School. JCG last year linked with Shanghai Girls No3 School, whose students will visit Jersey next year.
“The Jersey group spent a week comparing, discussing and challenging their practice in light of what they saw. This was extremely valuable. To improve our system, we have to reflect on our practice and the best way to do that is to see how other people do it, particularly where the differences are very pronounced” Mr Donovan added.
Education Minister, Deputy Rod Bryans, commented “It’s important to always question what we do and explore other ideas, particularly when we can do it in such as cost-effective way as guests of the Han Ban Institute. Constructive partnerships in education are being developed alongside the diplomatic and business links being progressed by other parts of the government.”
The cost of the trip was less than £3,500 for a week for seven Jersey delegates. The flights for the Jersey delegation were funded through States Avios points and China’s Han Ban Institute covered the cost of all accommodation, travel and food while the group were in China. There was also a fee of £494.16 per person to cover airport taxes (not included by Avios), airport transfers and visas.
gov.je