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Information and public services for the Island of Jersey

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Minister for Children and Education provides update on first four months

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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