Secondary Education Funding Review (S.R.10/2024): Response of the Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning

Findings

Comments

1

The  right  for  parental choice  of  school  is embedded  in  the Education  (Jersey)  Law 1999,  subject  to provision  of  efficient education or the efficient use  of  resources. However,  there  appears to  be  inconsistency between  the  right  to choose  a  school  and public  perception  that choice  is  a  postcode lottery',  where  the understanding  is  that choice  for  secondary education  is  only available  to  those  with financial means.

Parents have a right to express a preference as to the provided school at which the parent wishes education to  be  provided  for  his  or  her  child.  However,  the Minister is not required to comply with any preference if  this  would  prejudice  the  provision  of  efficient education or use of resources.

It is acknowledged that some parents will not be able to choose Hautlieu or a fee-paying provided school due to academic selection and / or ability to pay.

In practice, where spare capacity exists, places in the 4 provided non fee-paying schools can, and are, allocated outside of catchment.

The Minister notes that the Panel's analysis of the survey responses "is not clear if the strong sense of frustration in these responses was at the system or the way the question was worded to imply choice."

2

The Jersey Curriculum is closely  linked  to  the national  curriculum  in England,  which  is currently  under  review. Public  sentiment, captured  by  the Government's  own consultation  The  Big Education Conversation' and the Panel's work has captured  a  desire  to ensure that the secondary curriculum is broad and prepares  students  for their future.

The Jersey Curriculum Council (JCC) and Minister have agreed the definition of curriculum as outlined in the revised Jersey School Review Framework (JSRF) and this will be added to the Jersey Curriculum (JC) in 2025 when the 2025 JSRF is launched. This makes the JC a wider document than the current directory of subjects,  or  the  English  National  Curriculum,  and extends it to encompass the whole curriculum diet – the extra-curricular,  vocational,  technical  and  academic curricular and wider personal and social development options that schools offer to meet the needs of their cohorts.

3

Some  Government provided non-fee-paying schools  offer  support with  vocational  studies pre-16,  but  this  is  not provided  universally across secondary schools and access to the schools is  dependent  on catchment area.

Every school provides some vocational option, and it is agreed that there is no universal consistent offer across them  all  as  schools  tailor  their  offer  to  meet  the particular needs of their cohorts.

4

For 2023 there is a £27 million (47%) difference between the £41 million spent by Government on provided and fee-paying secondary  schools  (not including  the  special schools) which is funded by CYPES and the £68 million reported spend on secondary  education  by Jersey's Classification of the  Functions  of Government report.

The Classification of the Functions of Government is calculated following a method described in detail in internationally applicable guidance. Manual on sources and methods for the compilation of COFOG statistics

 Classification  of  the  Functions  of  Government

In brief the following steps were followed:

1> take direct secondary school gross costs from the accounts - £53m, excluding fee income

2>  add  a  proportion  of  relevant  CYPES'  costs including direct support services such as Educational Psychology  and  an  estimate  for  Mont  al  'Abbe secondary - £7.4m

3> add a proportion of GoJ central services provided by the COO – e.g. HR, IT - £5.6m

4> add depreciation on the school estate- £4.9m

5> remove cross charging from other depts featuring elsewhere in the report - (£0.5m)

6>  remove  social  security  contributions  which  are shown elsewhere in the report - (£2.2m)

5

Between 2018 and 2023 there has been a £9.840 million  increase  to funding  provided  by Government to non-fee- paying  secondary schools,  equating  to  an increase  of  31%. Comparatively,  the funding  provided  by Government towards the provided  fee-paying schools  has  fluctuated slightly but overall it has increased  by approximately £676,000, equating  to  a  13% increase  over  the  same period  of  time. Comparatively,  Jersey's Retail Price Index (RPI) over  the  period  March 2018 to December 2023 was  33.3%,  so Government  provided funding has not kept pace with  RPI,  despite additional  funding provided  for  Education reform.

It is fair to say that government budgets have not fully kept pace with RPI in this period, including secondary school budgets.

Additional budget for pay awards and non-pay inflation funding  was  allocated  to  Departments  each  year through the Government Plan process. However, the non-pay element did not fully cover the higher RPI in this  period,  or  the  above  inflation  price  rises, particularly in contract services and utilities.

It  is  important  to  note  that,  unlike  fully-provided schools, fee-paying schools benefit from a co-funding model (i.e. direct Government funding through AWPU and parental fees). The fees charged by fee-paying schools  went  up  in  this  period  above  RPI.  These schools are more resilient to inflation pressures because of this but are more vulnerable to reductions in pupil numbers than non-fee charging schools. Pupil numbers have increased by 9% over this period (from 2,706 in autumn 2018/19 to 2,972 in autumn 2024/25).

A significant proportion of additional funding for fully provided schools is predicated on the needs of their cohort in accordance with the recommendations of the Independent School Funding Review (ISFR). It is to be expected that schools with higher levels of multilingual learners,  low  prior  attainment,  SEN  and  Jersey Premium will have seen higher budget increases than fee paying schools which have much lower numbers of these cohorts.

6

The financial deficit has decreased for the non-fee paying  provided secondary schools  since the  introduction  of  the Jersey Funding Formula for  Schools  (funding formula')  (in  2022)  but

The  school  funding  formula  is  the  allocation mechanism for available base budget, it does not, of itself,  increase  funding.  The  reduction  of  structural deficits was one of the explicit ISFR recommended investments, others relate to addressing unmet needs in the system.

has  not  been  totally removed. The deficit for the  fee-paying  provided secondary  schools  has fluctuated over the same period  of  time  (2018- 2023),  but they  are  not subject  to  the  new funding  formula calculations.

7

Jersey Property Holdings is the Corporate Landlord for  the  Government provided fee-paying and non-fee-paying secondary  schools  in Jersey and is responsible for capital works that are not  considered  day-to- day  requirements,  or  as defined  by  the  Service Level  Agreement. Expenditure  for maintenance  in  the schools  has  varied greatly  in  the  last  five years.  Grainville received  the  highest amount,  £11.8  million between  2019  and  July 2023, and in comparison, over  the  same  period Hautlieu has received the lowest, at £296k.

The Minister notes the figures quoted in this finding come  from  a  letter  the  Panel  received  from  the Infrastructure Department. The high spend attributed to Grainville includes £9.9 million in 2019 for large scale capital works carried out during phase 5 of the school's redevelopment.  

8

The  introduction  of  the funding  formula  has replaced  the  previous Average Weighted Pupil Unit  formula,  following recommendations  made to  Government  in  the Independent  School Funding  Review conducted in 2020 for a more transparent and less complex  formula  to  be used  for  calculating school funding.

Correct for all fully provided schools. Fee-paying and grant  funded  schools  remain  on  the  AWPU methodology.  Work  is  underway  to  move  these remaining schools to a new methodology / formula, ideally from 2026.

9

89.68%  of  secondary school  costs  are attributable to staff costs and  10.32%  is attributable  to  non-staff costs.

Agreed.

10

There  is  a  disparity between contracted hours for teachers (26.25 hours per  week  as  per  the funding  formula)  and reported  hours  worked (53  hours  per  week  in 2022  per  the  Teachers survey).  The  funding formula  assumes  2.6 hours  (10%)  of  time  is taken  up  by  Planning, Preparation  and Assessment,  however, the 2021 Jersey Teachers survey  indicated  that there was an average of 18 hours a week taken up by  lesson  planning, general  administration and marking.

Hours worked by teachers fall into different categories and working patterns. The review of Teacher's Terms

&  Conditions  will address  the  apparent  differences between  contracted  hours,  pupil  contact  hours, teaching hours and PPA by clarifying requirements for each. It will also seek to clarify how these hours are/can be worked across the school and/or calendar years. The new  school  workforce  survey  (which,  unlike  the previous  iteration,  will  include  all  the  school workforce) will also include questions to elicit working hours and practices so workload challenges can be supported by data.

The funding formula references contact time, teaching hours and PPA, not all hours. The funding formula allows for 10% PPA. The survey, in 2021, reflects that 53 was the average hours worked for full time teachers, including  senior  leaders,  in  the  week  prior  to  the survey.

11

The  average  budget  for teacher  learning  and development  is calculated  by  the Department  as  £2,034 per  teacher,  which includes  centrally  held funding  used  for programmes such as the Jersey Graduate Teacher Training  Programme. £2,034 is lower than the equivalent  funding recommended  by  the Independent  School Funding Review and the average  funding  per teacher in England.

Funding for learning and development exists in three places:  1.  training  budget  is  allocated  directly  to schools  through  the  formula,  2.  travel  and accommodation  costs  associated  with  training  are allocated to schools through the formula and 3. there is a centrally held budget.

12

The  funding  formula provides a calculation for

The formula is used to derive the budget quantum and, for  the  majority  of  the  budget,  Headteachers  have

a cash limit which is the budget  available  to schools. There are a few ringfenced  elements, however,  the Headteacher  has discretion  on  how  to spend the majority of the budget.  The  funding formula does not clarify which of the staff roles are  provided  with ringfenced  funding  and which roles do not have to be recruited to, so that funding  can  be repurposed  by Headteachers  for  other uses.

discretion on how to spend it. This ensures that school leaders, who have the best understanding of the context and requirements of the school can, for example, build a workforce that best fits their needs. However, the model school for inclusion staffing structure requires all mainstream provided schools employ a core set of staff, supporting a more inclusive education.

13

Funding  allocated  to expenditure on premises is provided on an actual cost  basis,  however, some values of non-staff costs,  such  as  the  core rate  of  minor  works expenditure  and  exam costs  have  not  been adjusted with revisions of the formula.

There  are  multiple  budget  allocations  linked  to premises in non-staff costs in the formula including Grounds Maintenance, Cleaning (Contracts/Materials), Utilities and Minor Works. Minor works are funded at rates  informed  by  the  building  age  (as  advised  by Jersey Property Holdings) which provides a £ rate per m2. Additionally, there is a centrally held capital budget for school premises improvements. Exam costs have been increased in 2025 to better reflect actual costs and volumes.

14

The  Minister  for Education  and  Lifelong Learning has advised the Panel that school budget for  Information  and Communication Technology  (ICT)  has not changed in the last 10 years.  The  Panel ascertained that £105,000 was  attributable  to  the provided  secondary schools for ICT and has calculated  that  in  2023 they spent an average of

Agreed.

0.29% of their budget on ICT  (excluding  staff costs).  There  is  an additional £250,000 held centrally for all schools to  access  for  ICT,  if required.

15

The  Minister  for Education  and  Lifelong Learning  has acknowledged  the importance  of technology  for  students to  become  digital citizens,  however  also indicated  that "significant  investment" is  needed  in  order  for teachers and students to be able to effectively use technology for education in  the  immediate  and long term.

The network upgrade has total budget of £1.4 million split between 2024 and 2025 to cover WIFI upgrades.

16

Each  provided  non  fee- paying secondary school receives  funding  for  a Mental  Health  and Wellbeing  coordinator and  the  Minister  has advised  that  there  are plans to increase support between  Child  and Adolescent  Mental Health  Services (CAMHS) and schools in future.

CAMHS Early Intervention Service has Mental Health Practitioners  assigned  to  each  secondary  schools. These Practitioners will work closely with the mental health and wellbeing co-ordinators in schools to offer consultation, brief input, training and courses for staff, and navigation / support for wider CAMHS services.

17

The funding formula for schools  has  provided funding for children with a Record of Need (RON).

Agreed.

For  2024  base  funding per child with a RON is £10,000, and there is top up funding to this where the child has high level needs.

18

The  objectives  of  the Jersey Premium funding are  to  improve educational outcomes. In 2024 a secondary school will  receive  £1,060  per student  who  is  eligible for the Jersey Premium, which  surpasses  the equivalent  pupil premium  benefit  in England.   Schools  are given discretion on how to spend the money and are  required  to  prepare strategies  and evaluations for the use of the funding, however, the Panel  has  been  advised that  schools  can potentially  use  it  to support families with the cost of uniform.

Agreed.  Jersey  Premium  rates  for  2025  have  been uplifted and are:

Primary £1,625

Secondary £1,150

Looked  after  and  previously  looked  after  children £2,820

Service children £370

19

The  Minister  has confirmed  that  there  is further work to be done to  assess  the  support available to multilingual learners.  £134,000  was allocated  to  support multilingual  learners  in secondary  schools  in 2024.  In  practice  this funding was allocated to schools  for  the supplementary allowances,  specialist

£134,000 was allocated directly to secondary schools through  the  formula.  Secondary  schools  will  also benefit from the additional investment in lead teachers. Training to enhance school workforce capability to support  MLL  (multilingual  learners)  can  also  be accessed  through  the  central  teacher  learning  and development budget.

training  and  the  release of the MLL (multilingual language) Lead teachers who  provide  support  to other teachers across the school.

20

£663,000  was  allocated to  support  students  in secondary  schools  with low prior attainment. In practice,  the  funding  is used  to  employ  well trained  teachers  and teaching  assistants  who are  deployed  to undertake  full  class teaching  or  bespoke interventions  and support.

Agreed.

21

The  Minister  for Education  and  Lifelong Learning  is  responsible for  providing  a  first class  education  system' but the definition of this, or  relevant  measurable objectives are not clear. There  is  alignment between the views of the Minister  and  public sentiment  collected  by the Panel, which agrees that  the  suitable outcomes  of  secondary education are more than exam results.

The Minister agrees that outcomes for Jersey schools should not be limited just to examination results. The Education  department  has  for  some  time  evaluated schools through analysis of pupil achievement, but also through the analysis of the effectiveness of teaching, of the quality of personal development, behaviour and welfare provision, and the evaluation of the leadership and  management  that  each  school  offers.   School review reports have been published since 2018, and all Government of Jersey schools have a published review report on gov.je.

Over  the  past  year  the  Jersey  School  Review Framework has been updated with new benchmarks outlining the expectations for schools in the following judgement areas: Curriculum, Teaching and Learning; Behaviour,  Attitudes  and  Attendance;  Personal Development; and Leadership & Management. This update  has  included  consideration  of  review  and inspection systems used by a range of jurisdictions including  England,  Wales  and  the  Independent Inspectorate for British Schools overseas. It has been subject to ongoing consultation with teachers, school leaders and education unions, and comes into effect with its publication later this term.

The definition of Curriculum used in the revised review framework  is  far  wider  than  the  named  subjects

delivered in schools or the examination results in these subjects.  This  updated  framework  gives  detailed definitions of the four pillars' of the curriculum: the development  of  the  child;  entitlement;  equity;  and quality. These pillars have been discussed and agreed at the Jersey Curriculum Council.

22

There  is  a  disconnect between  the  current system  of  academic selection  in  secondary education  and  the Government's  ambition to  provide  an  inclusive education.

Noted.

23

The Independent School Review  Framework, which  provides  for evaluations of schools is being reviewed.

After a full cycle of reviews (one for each school) the framework is being reviewed and updated to further improve it based on feedback and experience gained through this first cycle of reviews.

24

When  asked  about  how secondary  education should evolve in the next ten years, the public have provided the Panel with a wide range of suggested improvements  in  areas across  education, teaching, leadership, the curriculum, facilities and resources.

The  Minister  acknowledges  the  public  feedback provided to the Panel.

25

The  14  plus  transfer  to Hautlieu  School  is  a divisive system which is unique to Jersey. There is no evidence to show if it is  the  optimum  way  to structure  the  secondary education system and it is contrary to other aspects

The Minister notes the Panel's survey responses on 14+ which are similar to previous findings from the Big Education  Conversation.  There  continues  to  be polarised opinions on this matter, and it is agreed there is no conclusive evidence to show whether it is the optimum way to structure secondary education or not.

of  Education  policy relating to Inclusion.

26

Whilst  the  deficit  for non-fee-paying provided secondary  schools  has been reduced and further additional  funding  has been  provided  by Government  for Inclusion  support  in schools, there remains a perception  from  the public  that  schools  are underfunded,  in  some cases  may  be  due  to reflections  on  the resources  and  facilities that are available.

27

The  Government provided  fee-paying schools  (Jersey  College for  Girls  and  Victoria College)  continue  to receive  Government funding based on a rate of 47%  of  the  Average Weighted  Pupil  Unit (AWPU)  formula, however,  this  could  be changed  for  2026 onwards.

Agreed.

28

Between  the  academic years 2021-22 and 2024- 25  the  school  fees  for Jersey College for Girls have  increased  by  21% and  the  school  fees  for Victoria  College  have increased by 20%. These rates are below the Retail Price Index inflation rate.

Agreed.  However,  a  comparison  over  a  longer historical  timeline,  September  2008  to  September 2024, shows an RPI increase of 66.3% compared to fee increases for Jersey College for Girls of 112% and Victoria College of 104%.

29

The  Government provides grant funding to private  secondary schools,  namely, Beaulieu School and De La  Salle  School  on  the basis  of  47%  of  the Average Weighted Pupil Unit  calculation  for secondary  students. Additional  funding  has been  provided  to Beaulieu School through various  means  since 2019.

Agreed.

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date  of action/ completion

1

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should assess the legal right to parental choice  for  their  child's education  and  policies  which relate to school admissions and transfers  to  ensure  that flexibility  is  built  into  the secondary  education framework,  particularly  for students who do not have the financial  support  to  attend  a private or a fee-paying setting.

MELL

Reject

Parents have a right to express a preference  as  to  the  provided school at which the parent wishes education to be provided for his or her child. However, the Minister is not required to comply with any preference if this would prejudice the provision of efficient education or use of resources.

In practice, where spare capacity exists, places in the 4 provided non fee-paying schools  can,  and are, allocated to students living outside of the school catchment area.

The Minister notes that the Panel's analysis  of the survey  responses "is not clear if the strong sense of frustration in these responses was at  the  system  or  the  way  the

question  was  worded  to  imply choice."

2

The  Government  should undertake  a  thorough  refresh assessment  of  how  the Education  (Jersey)  Law  1999 and the Government's policies relating to secondary education are compatible with the United Nations  Convention  on  the rights  of the  Child (UNCRC) and current best practice from other jurisdictions. This should include  consideration  of  the compulsory  age  of  education and  the  education  of  young people  who  are  held  in detention.

MELL

Accept

The  Minister  agrees  a comprehensive  review  / assessment of the Education Law is required. Whilst it will not be possible  to  complete  this  within the term of office remaining for this government, the Minister will make  best  endeavours  to  make some  progress  on  this  between now and the next election in 2026.

Next political term

3

Any  evolution  to  the  English national  curriculum  may provide a suitable opportunity for the Jersey Curriculum to be reassessed. The Minister should ask  the  Jersey  Curriculum Council  to  provide  formal advice  on  this  matter,  to  be published  in  a  report  to  the States Assembly, by the end of December 2025.

MELL

Partial Accept

The  Minister  agrees  a reassessment  of  the  Jersey Curriculum will be required as and when  the  English  National Curriculum is updated. However, the anticipated date for publication of the English report is not until Autumn 2025 at the earliest.

Due to this timeline, it would not be feasible for the JCC to provide formal advice with a report to the States  Assembly  by  December 2025.

If the English report is published before October 2025 the Minister will aim to lodge a Report with the Assembly within 6 months.

May 2026

4

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should confirm  how  the  £27  million difference  between  the department  for  Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) figures and the Classification of the Functions of  Government  report  for secondary  education  spend  in 2023 is calculated and confirm

MELL

Accept

The Classification of the Functions of  Government  is  calculated following a method described in detail in internationally applicable guidance. Manual on sources and

methods  for  the  compilation  of

COFOG  statistics  

Classification of the Functions of

Government  (COFOG)    2019

edition  -  Products  Manuals  and

Guidelines - Eurostat

how this impacts expenditure in comparison  to  other jurisdictions.

In brief the following steps were followed:

1>  take  direct  secondary  school gross  costs  from  the  accounts  - £53m, excluding fee income

2>  add  a  proportion  of  relevant CYPES'  costs  including  direct support  services  such  as Educational  Psychology  and  an estimate  for  Mont  à  l'Abbé secondary - £7.4m

3> add a proportion of GoJ central services provided by the COO – e.g. HR, IT - £5.6m

4> add depreciation on the school estate- £4.9m

5>  remove  cross  charging  from other depts featuring elsewhere in the report - (£0.5m)

6>  remove  social  security contributions  which  are  shown elsewhere in the report - (£2.2m)

5

The  Government  should publish details on the outcomes of  the  Education  Reform Programme  and  confirm  how the additional funding has been spent in the last 4 years.

MELL

Partial Accept

The  Comptroller  and  Auditor General plans to carry out an audit of  the  Education  Reform Programme in 2025 to investigate value  for  money  and  corporate governance.  The  findings  and recommendations from this report will  also  be  published  and responded to by government.

31/12/2025

6

The  Children,  Young  People, Education and Skills Property Asset  Management  Plans should be provided to Scrutiny to  review  on  a  regular  basis once  these  are  in  place.  The Panel would like to assess how

MELL

Reject

Property Asset Management Plans are  a  Jersey  Property  Holdings responsibility and as such it would be their decision if these can be shared with the Panel in a regular basis.

the Property Asset Management Plans for schools are planning capital expenditure  to address any findings from accessibility assessments or audits.

7

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should explore  whether  the  funding formula  for  schools  could  be adjusted  in  order  to  provide better  working  conditions  for teachers, particularly in respect of increasing non-contact time available  for  lesson  planning, administration and marking and ensuring that there is suitable wellbeing support available.

MELL

Reject

The  funding  formula  is  not  the correct stand-alone mechanism to review and / or update teacher's terms and conditions. A review of these is underway and the adoption of  its  recommendations  will deliver better working conditions for teachers.

8

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should consult teachers on the policy approach  for  teacher  learning and development and reassess the  budget  provided  in  the funding formula for continuing professional  development  for teachers in order to consider: i) whether  the  structure  used  in the funding formula is suitable; and ii) if the amount per teacher is  sufficient.  Teacher participation  in  professional development  should  be considered as a metric for the Government's delivery of a first class education service.

MELL

Partial Accept

The Minister commits to providing a breakdown of the training budget allocated  through  the  funding formula, that held centrally and the mechanism  for  increasing  the budget.

In  addition,  he  will  assess sufficiency,  the  method  of allocation, its impact and to seek input  from  teachers  on  CPD requirements  through  the  school workforce survey in 2025.

Q1 2025

Dec 2025

9

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should improve the transparency of the funding formula, for example, by outlining which staff roles are mandatory funded roles and which are the roles where the funding can be repurposed by

MELL

Accept

The  school  funding  formula already specifies which roles are mandatory,  but  it  is  agreed  this could be expanded upon to provide improved public information. The Minister will seek to make these improvements  in  the  annual publication  of the  formula  in in 2025.

30/06/2025

the  Headteacher  or  school,  if thought fit.

10

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should determine  how  many  of  the staff roles named in the funding formula  are  fulfilled  by individuals  on  zero  hours contracts and, if relevant, assess the  benefits  of  utilising  zero hours  contracts  for  the  roles with regards to both financial and  service  stability.  This assessment  should  be  shared with  the  Scrutiny  Panel  and published.

MELL

Accept

The Minister will review the use of zero hours contracts in schools and make this available to the Panel.

11

For  clarity,  where  funding allocations  in  the  funding formula  for  schools  are  not adjusted with a new revision of the formula (for example any non-staff  costs)  the  document should confirm the last time the rates  were  adjusted  for inflation, or otherwise reviewed for adequacy.

MELL

Accept

The  Minister  agrees  with  this recommendation as it will provide a  more  transparent  historical record where financial constraints or other reasons have resulted in a formula  allocation  not  being adjusted.

12

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should consider  how  greater investment in technology could be  made  available  across schools,  accompanied  by suitable  training  for  staff  and students in how to use it.

MELL

Accept

The Minister agrees to make this consideration.

13

In addition to the Mental Health and Wellbeing role and the role of School Counsellors, schools should  be  provided  with funding  to  provide  resources and  facilities  to  support wellbeing of the whole student population,  for  example specific  training  for  teachers

MELL

Reject

In addition to funding for school counsellors, schools have access to the  CAHMS  Early  Intervention Service  and  to the  central  L&D budget for training requirements.

and  staff  on  how  to  address student  bullying,  or  ways  for the  school  to  engage  and support parents and families.

14

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should change Jersey Premium funding to  annually  managed expenditure  to  account  for fluctuating levels of need in the future.

MELL

Reject

The  Minister  does  not  want  to make  a  firm  commitment  to change  Jersey  Premium  to Annually  Managed  Expenditure (AME)  currently.  The  Minister will  keep  a  watching  brief  on factors that can affect the benefits and  potential  disbenefits  of  this approach.

15

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should establish  a  separate  funding source  for  provision  of uniforms for families in need of assistance,  as  per  obligations under  the  Education  (Jersey) Law 1999 and Jersey Premium money should not be used for this purpose.

MELL

Reject

Charitable  and  government funding  streams  for  uniform already exist.

Help with school uniform costs

The  Minister  does  not  want  to prevent any Head Teacher making an  executive  decision  based  on individual  circumstances  which could see a child disadvantaged.

16

For  secondary  education  (and each key stage of education) the Government  should  define measurable  outcomes  for providing  a  first  class education service' to students in Government provided schools. The  Panel  suggests  that  the outcomes be broad to include consideration  of  teacher retention rates, student access to resources  and  extracurricular activities,  assessing  academic achievement  gaps,  levels  of parental  engagement  and, where  suitable,  school participation  in  the  local community.

MELL

Accept

The  Minister  will  review  all existing indicators, including those from  the  Children  and  Young People's  Survey  and  the  School Workforce  Survey.  These  will inform  the  development  of  any new  indicators  from  2026/7 academic year.

30/06/2026

17

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should

MELL

Partial Accept

This is currently being reviewed. The  Minister  supports

consider  wider  and  more transparent  publication  of school  exam  results  and  the Jersey 8 analysis, to ensure that there are meaningful value add figures  publicly  available  for each secondary school.

transparency for school outcomes and the use of value-added data. Any  publication  of  school outcomes must reflect the different structures and contexts of schools within the Jersey system.

18

The results of the review of the Independent  School  Review Framework  should  be published.

Accept

The updated Jersey School Review Framework  will  be  published  in the 1st half of 2025. A summary of the iterative changes made, can be shared with the panel.

30/06/2025

19

The  Education  (Jersey)  Law 1999, as the framework for the provision of education in Jersey should be reviewed to consider its  suitability  and  adaptability for the future.

MELL

Accept

The Minister agrees that the Law needs revision and modernisation as it is now 25 years old. It is not possible at this time to commit to a timeline,  but  the  Minister  can confirm it will not be completed in this term of office.

20

The  system  of  academically selective  transfer  at  age  14 should be reviewed. The Panel believes  that  the  terms  of reference for the review should include  a  focus  on  how  to improve choice and the whole secondary  school  experience for pupils attending the non-fee paying Government schools.

MELL

Partial Accept

The Minister is not able to commit to a review of the 14+ transfer at this  time.  However,  with  the forthcoming challenge of changing demographics, it will be necessary to consider options for the delivery of secondary education through all Key Stages.

21

As part of any work to review the structure of the secondary education system in Jersey, the Minister  for  Education  and Lifelong Learning should place an  emphasis  on  collaboration between  all  the  schools  and creating centres of excellence. The  Panel  believes  that  this could  be  achieved  through Government funding free sixth form  education  where  further collaboration  can  occur between  the  colleges  and current on-fee paying sector.

MELL

Accept

The  Minister  is  keen  to  start conversations on how a reformed 16+  offer  could  see  greater collaboration  between  schools, maximising  opportunity  and choice  for  students  with  greater efficiency.

The Minister will not predict the outcome of this work as there will be many options and opportunities to consider.

22

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should publish  regular  figures  which clarify any differences between the funding of students at the non-fee paying schools and fee- paying  schools  so  that  any changes or disparity in the per pupil funding rates, or overall spend  per  pupil,  are  open  to transparent public scrutiny.

MELL

Partial Accept

The  Minister  will  commit  to publishing  the  total  level  of funding  received  by  [groups  of] schools  with  reference  to  their individual context and the school funding formula as a benchmark. He  will  also  publish  capital investment in school premises.

September 2025

23

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should establish  a suitable  long term and  sustainable  funding formula  for  the  Government provided fee-paying schools for consideration by the Assembly in  2025.  The  formula  should ensure  parity  with  non-fee paying Government schools for inclusion support.

MELL

Partial Accept

At this time the Minister cannot commit to achieve this in 2025.

It  would  not  be  appropriate  to ensure parity with non-fee-paying schools for inclusion support, as this funding is based on identified levels  of  need;  spend  increases when  increased  needs  are identified.

Individuals with a record of need get full funding in fee paying and non-fee-paying schools. Inclusion support roles are fully funded in non-fee-paying schools, but where need  is  very  low  the  Minister cannot, in inclusion terms, spend money where it would not be an effective use of limited resources.

By using the SFF the Minister can ensure  a  consistent  approach  is used to allocate available funding across  all  schools  which  also provides  a  benchmark  against which  to  assess  transparency across the system.

September 2026

24

The Minister for Education and Lifelong  Learning  should commit  to  making  the  grant funding  and  other  financial

MELL

Partial Accept

Grant  payments  over  £75k  are published  and  issued  in accordance  with  the  Public Finances Manual and require the

support

provided

for

recipients  to  publish  annual

educational transparent.

purposes

more

accounts.  If  the  Panel's recommendation  is  seeking  any changes to this, they are advised to

raise this request with the Minister

for Treasury and Resources as she

would be best placed to advise on

the feasibility or otherwise of this

recommendation.

The Minister can discuss further

with the Panel