GUERNSEY SCHOOLS

1. La Houguette Primary
2. Forest Primary
3. St Andrew's Primary
4. St Martin's Primary
5. Notre Dame Primary (RC)
6. Vauvert Primary
7. Amherst Primary
8. Castel Primary
9. La Mare de Carteret Primary
10. Hautes Capelles Primary
11. St Mary & St Michael Primary (RC)
12. St Sampson's Infants
13. Vale Infant and Junior Schools
14. Les Beaucamps High
15. The Grammar School & Sixth Form Centre
16. St Peter Port Secondary
17. Delancey Campus - CFE
18. La Mare de Carteret High
19. Le Rondin School & Centre
20. SEBD Centre (conversion in progress)
21. Coutanchez Campus - CFE
22. St Sampson's High School & Le Murier

 

Primary, Junior and Infant Schools in Guernsey accept children from a specific area of the Island known as the school’s catchment area.

Children normally attend the school in the catchment area where they live. All children who reach the age of 5 before 1st September in a particular year are required to attend school for the next academic year onwards. Parents should make contact with the head teacher of the school in their catchment area to register their child between September and January of the previous school year to help the school’s planning.

The Education Department has also agreed that children who reach the age of 4 on or before 31st August may also start school from the beginning of the academic year in September, but only if spaces and staff are available at the school.

Children from Roman Catholic families may attend one of two Roman Catholic primary schools if they choose.

There are also a number of private fee-paying schools for primary age pupils.

Requests for an out of catchment placement are considered by the Education Department but only granted in a limited number of circumstances according to specific criteria.

Pupils undergo a selection process (the 11+) in the final year of primary education to decide on their secondary phase place. Pupils attending the two Roman Catholic Primary Schools also sit the 11+ to decide on their secondary phase place (there is no Roman Catholic secondary school under the control of the Education Department).

The majority of children will be awarded places at the secondary school which serves their catchment area. Around a quarter of all children who are assessed as being of high academic ability and aptitude will be considered for a place at either the Grammar School and Sixth Form Centre or, as special place holders, one of the three Colleges (Ladies’ College, Blanchelande Girls’ College or Elizabeth College).

Primary Schools work closely with Secondary Schools to ensure that all pupils are well prepared for the transition to a new school.

Pupils must legally attend school between the ages of 5 and 15. The school leaving age will soon be raised to 16 and from the school year 2008/09 all pupils will have to complete their Year 11 studies before being allowed to leave school. The leaving date for Year 11 students from 2008-09 will be the last Friday in June.

For those pupils whose educational needs cannot be met in mainstream schools, the Education Department maintains two special schools. To be considered for admission, pupils will have undergone or be undergoing a Formal Assessment which identifies their prime area of need as one of the following: 

• Moderate Learning Difficulties with Additional Needs
• Severe Learning Difficulties
• Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties

Pupils may also have additional needs such as:

• Communication and interaction difficulties
• Behavioral, emotional and social difficulties
• Sensory, physical and medical difficulties

The newly built Le Rondin School & Centre caters for primary age pupils with a range of special education needs. Le Rondin also provides an office base for the peripatetic education support services who mainly work with pupils in mainstream schools. Therapy rooms for occupational therapists, speech therapists and physiotherapists from the Health & Social Services Department are located on the first floor of the building.

The Health & Social Services Department’s Child Development Centre also operates from Le Rondin School & Centre.

Pupils of secondary school age with special educational needs currently attend Oakvale School and the College of Further Education provides Post-16 opportunities.

A new secondary special school, Le Murier, is currently being built on the former Les Nicolles Vinery site in the north of the island and is due for completion towards the end of 2008.

A Centre for pupils with social, emotional and behavioral difficulties currently operates from Granville House in Mount Durand and will move into the vacated Oakvale premises once Le Murier opens and some conversion work has taken place.