09 November 2022
The Minister for Children and Education, Deputy Inna Gardiner, has today published an update on
her progress against the priorities she announced when taking office.
In the last four months, the Minister has:
Minister for Children and Education, Deputy Inna Gardiner, said: “When this Council of Ministers
took office, we pledged to work quickly to address some of the key issues facing Islanders. For me,
this has included immediate issues like the maintenance of our school buildings and securing
funding for school meals.
“It has also included laying the groundwork for future improvements, like making sure we attract
and retain the best staff to support children and families; including children and young people in
decision-making; and identifying new sites for a future St Helier primary school.
“Myself and my Assistant Ministers, Deputy Doublet and Connétable Vibert, have been supported
by dozens of officers from CYPES who have offered information, guidance and balance as we have
put these plans into action. My Assistant Ministers would join me in thanking them for their
outstanding effort during this period.
“While this Government still has three and half years to continue its work, I am confident that our
work in the first four months will kick-start improvements to the services we offer children, families
and young people.”
An update on each action is available below:
Introduce legislation and
funding to ensure that
children have access to
one meal a day in school
£1.6 million per year has been ringfenced in the Government Plan 2023 – 2026 to deliver school meals.
Develop and start the
implementation of a
participation and
engagement plan for
children and young
people
The Participation Standards for Jersey were developed in
collaboration with over 200 children, young people and
professionals at a workshop held on 30 September.
The Standards have been published. Work on a toolkit and
training for Government of Jersey is ongoing and is due to be
completed in early 2023.
Develop a workforce
strategy and action plan
A progress report highlighting the key workforce challenges has
been released by the Minister. This has been informed by
meetings with staff and headteachers to understand their
concerns.
A Delivery Unit team has been stood up to ensure that the
ambitions of the strategy and action plan are met. A senior
leadership oversight group will meet every five weeks to monitor
and drive progress.
Develop a Community
Partnership
The Minister for Children and Education will work with SoJP and
colleagues across Government to identify and assess strategic
and operational issues relating to missing young persons and
anti-social behaviour.
The Terms of Reference for the group have been published
online.
Finalise the Government
Plan Priorities
The Government Plan 2023-2026 has been lodged and is due to
be debated in December. Proposed Ministerial Plans have also
been published.
Maintenance for schools
estates and update on
Greenfields
Phase 2 of the Les Quennevais cooling works was completed for
in September for the start of this academic year. This included an
additional 24 rooms been fitted with air conditioning. Scoping
work is currently being undertaken for a further 19 rooms to be
completed in Phase 3.
Significant work has been undertaken at Greenfields during the
last 100 days to address the recent improvement notices. This
includes introducing a young person’s guide, the appointment of
new staff, a programme of repairs and improvements, and
individual education packages to meet young people’s needs.
Since March 2022, we have improved eight out of 12 areas
identified for improvement, with one additional area identified.
Finalise the
implementation plan for
the CAMHS Mental Health
and Wellbeing Plan
The Children and Young People’s Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Strategy has been published online.
The service has continued to improve over the last six months,
including increasing the number of staff from 21 in mid-2021 to
56 currently. These developments will be outlined in the
response to the recent C&AG report. The implementation plan
will be published by early 2023.
Publish a reviewed
funding formula for
schools
The funding formula has been published on the Government of
Jersey website.
Finalise the St Helier
primary school estate
report, to be presented to
the States Assembly
This report was published on the Government of Jersey website
on 20 October.
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