:00:10. > :00:15.In need of a break - the families who say they've been let down and
:00:15. > :00:18.aren't getting the help they need. Also, aiming for the top - we speak
:00:19. > :00:23.to one of the men who wants to be Guernsey's next Chief Minister.
:00:23. > :00:33.And a perfect Finnish? Is learning from Finland the way forward for
:00:33. > :00:39.
:00:39. > :00:42.Good evening. Families who need a break from caring for their
:00:42. > :00:45.disabled and autistic children in Jersey are not getting the help
:00:45. > :00:50.they need. In some cases respite services have been so unpredictable
:00:50. > :00:54.families have had to give up their children into full time care. The
:00:54. > :00:56.findings are contained in a report by a group of States members after
:00:56. > :01:03.one mother, coping with a daughter with cerebral palsy, raised
:01:03. > :01:06.concerns. Natasha Bratch needs help with
:01:06. > :01:10.every aspect of her life from the moment she gets up in the morning
:01:10. > :01:15.until she goes to bed. Her mother Lesley feeds her, takes her to the
:01:15. > :01:18.bathroom and puts her to bed at night. Lesley has three other
:01:18. > :01:26.children and has always managed to take care of her youngest, but it's
:01:26. > :01:30.been with the help of respite care. When the children were growing up,
:01:30. > :01:34.it gave us time to be with the other children because there are
:01:34. > :01:40.certain things you cannot do when you have a child with special needs.
:01:40. > :01:43.So it gave a special family time, time to be with my husband.
:01:43. > :01:46.Today the health, social secuirty and housing scrutiny committee
:01:46. > :01:48.reported on the state of respite care on the island. It found that
:01:48. > :01:51.there has been two decades of under-investment. Without that help
:01:51. > :02:00.some families have split up under the strain or sent their children
:02:00. > :02:08.into full-time care. There just isn't enough to cope with today's
:02:08. > :02:14.society. Our population has grown by 10,000 over the last 10 years.
:02:14. > :02:20.This is one of the bedrooms at Oakwell where Natasha comes for her
:02:20. > :02:24.respite care. It is specially designed for children with
:02:25. > :02:29.disabilities. It is facilities like this that cannot be got elsewhere
:02:29. > :02:33.and that is why families need specialist respite care.
:02:33. > :02:35.The report found the standard of care in its homes is high, although
:02:36. > :02:38.the properties need updating. But there were times when the homes
:02:38. > :02:41.were used to house full-time emergency cases there because they
:02:41. > :02:43.had no where else to go. That meant families, including the Bratchs,
:02:43. > :02:46.went weeks without any respite at all.
:02:46. > :02:48.For Lesley there was never any question that she would look after
:02:49. > :02:55.her youngest daughter at home, but an entire school summer holiday
:02:55. > :02:58.without respite was a strain on the whole family. Respite is a much
:02:58. > :03:02.needed glue which helps the family stay together. Now the States will
:03:02. > :03:05.review the report and see what more it can do to help families who look
:03:05. > :03:09.after their vunerable children. 90 jobs are to be lost at HSBC in
:03:09. > :03:12.Jersey and six in Guernsey. The move is part of a major
:03:12. > :03:14.restructuring of the bank's business in the UK. The Chief
:03:15. > :03:19.Executive of the Channel Islands Nick Winsor anticipates that many
:03:19. > :03:29.employees will find alternative roles.' He added that HSBC remains
:03:29. > :03:35.
:03:35. > :03:38.committed to the Channel Islands. There's just days to go until
:03:38. > :03:40.Guernsey chooses a new leader and with the current Chief Minister
:03:41. > :03:44.Deputy Lyndon Trott already out of the contest, the island's deputies
:03:44. > :03:47.now have just one man to choose from, unless the rules are changed
:03:47. > :03:51.on who can stand. Mike Wilkins met the only official candidate for the
:03:51. > :03:55.top job. Thank you for joining us. Take a seat. Obviously we have got
:03:55. > :04:01.the nominations now bought Chief Minister. From your perspective,
:04:01. > :04:04.why do you feel that you should be Chief Minister? I think there has
:04:04. > :04:08.been a sea-change in Guernsey politics and what has been really
:04:08. > :04:16.exciting and encouraging is the electorate has engaged far more in
:04:16. > :04:20.this election than, well, in living history. I know what is going on on
:04:20. > :04:24.what we face a head, which is going to be more concerning than we have
:04:24. > :04:29.had in the last four years. We need to make some difficult decisions
:04:29. > :04:34.and we need to communicate that effectively to our people. But we
:04:34. > :04:37.also need to inspire hope and I don't think people want a
:04:37. > :04:44.continuation of the this functionality that has been the
:04:44. > :04:49.case in the past. There has been talk about the role of the Chief
:04:49. > :04:57.Minister. Some feel it should be phased out, some feel there should
:04:57. > :05:05.be more power. There are two sides to the Chief Minister. He has to do
:05:05. > :05:13.with the Policy Council and represent Jersey. The Chief
:05:13. > :05:16.Minister can delegate and I think at the moment, because of what the
:05:16. > :05:21.electorate has said in terms of change, we need more of that
:05:21. > :05:26.delegation. If you do not make Chief Minister, what are your
:05:26. > :05:35.political aspirations? I would like to serve on the quality council and
:05:35. > :05:45.I would be keen on taking on the mandate of a former deputy at the
:05:45. > :05:46.
:05:46. > :05:48.Home Department. I still have that in my mind. Thank you.
:05:48. > :05:51.We all know Channel Islands schools follow the English curriculum, with
:05:51. > :05:53.students sitting GCSE and A level exams. However, in international
:05:53. > :05:55.terms the English curriculum isn't that highly regarded. The
:05:55. > :05:58.Organisation for Economic and Cultural Development, or OECD,
:05:58. > :06:01.ranks education systems around the world on how well their children
:06:01. > :06:04.grasp literacy, maths and science. The UK came 23rd and the exam
:06:04. > :06:06.structure may be the reason. As part of our special series on
:06:06. > :06:16.education, Clare Burton has travelled to Finland, which came
:06:16. > :06:18.
:06:18. > :06:25.third overall, to see what the Finland is a country that revolves
:06:25. > :06:31.around water. Famous for fishing, more so these days for the Nokia
:06:31. > :06:35.mobile phone, and even more so, for its clean streets, low crime rate
:06:35. > :06:41.and great public services. Snow may cover the ground in April, but
:06:41. > :06:49.quality of life here is the envy of the world, especially when it comes
:06:49. > :06:56.to education. Welcome to this score in the Finnish capital. It may not
:06:56. > :07:06.look much, but what is going on in the classrooms is making young
:07:06. > :07:08.
:07:08. > :07:12.people more rounded individuals. On the surface, what is going on
:07:12. > :07:17.inside is actually pretty standard. At this the basic school, which
:07:17. > :07:24.goes up to the edge of 15, students learn maths, literature, home
:07:24. > :07:30.economics, would work, just like hour 15-year-old really. But there
:07:30. > :07:37.are crucial differences. Students here are not strained by ability.
:07:37. > :07:42.In fact, the whole system is completely comprehensive, with a
:07:42. > :07:51.miniscule private sector. They sit no national tests. There is no
:07:51. > :07:57.formal school inspection and schools are not rant against each
:07:57. > :08:06.other. -- ranked against each other. It's an approach that goes down
:08:06. > :08:15.well with teachers. It is important in Finland. Parents trust the
:08:15. > :08:20.teachers, the children trusts the teachers. We do not need any system
:08:21. > :08:27.to test and test and test the children. The trust principle
:08:27. > :08:32.sounds unorthodox, but according to be OECD, it works. Finland is that
:08:32. > :08:38.in its world education rankings. Britain is 23rd. And it is here in
:08:38. > :08:43.this rather large glass building behind me be Finnish National Board
:08:43. > :08:51.of Education draws up that curricular a can -- curriculum,
:08:51. > :08:58.much admired across the world. aim to reach Equity, equality and
:08:58. > :09:04.high quality at the same time, and we also think we have succeeded
:09:04. > :09:09.quite well in that. So all our schools are equal in the sense that
:09:09. > :09:13.they produce good learning results. Parents don't have to be where to
:09:13. > :09:17.put their children, they can choose the nearest school and all schools
:09:17. > :09:22.are taking good care of their children. How can you know that is
:09:22. > :09:26.working if you are not doing regular national testing of
:09:26. > :09:31.publishing those results? First of all, if we would test all aware
:09:31. > :09:39.children, it would open the floor for school comparisons and we don't
:09:39. > :09:45.want that. The other reason is that if we'd had an national test the
:09:45. > :09:49.natural consequence would be that teachers start to teach for the
:09:49. > :09:55.Test and tests are always quite narrowed because we don't use our
:09:55. > :09:59.money to inspect schools or having these national tests. We use our
:09:59. > :10:03.money to provide support for children. How much of this boils
:10:03. > :10:09.down to money? Do you spend more on education than other places?
:10:09. > :10:14.don't. That is not the reason because the amount of money we put
:10:14. > :10:21.to education is a little bit less than beat OECD average. So you
:10:21. > :10:25.can't explain it with money, and teachers' salaries are something
:10:25. > :10:33.like the average of academic professionals, so you cannot
:10:33. > :10:38.explain teachers's good work with their salary. Education here is
:10:38. > :10:45.almost comprehensive. How do you views selection in schools? Weeping
:10:45. > :10:54.children learn a lot from each other, so more able children, they
:10:54. > :11:03.support those who are not so able. -- we think children learn. We do
:11:03. > :11:08.not one to set any obstacles for children to move forward. Well,
:11:08. > :11:13.equality here even extends to school meals - free for all and has
:11:13. > :11:18.been for decades. Cultural factors like this certainly explain some of
:11:18. > :11:26.Findon's success, but it takes political will to put their values
:11:26. > :11:30.into practice. -- Finland's. There seems little appetite to follow
:11:30. > :11:32.hour snow capped European friends back home in the Channel Islands.
:11:33. > :11:36.Well, there's a live radio debate on the Jersey education system
:11:36. > :11:38.starting at 7pm. Clare is chairing and on the panel we'll hear from
:11:39. > :11:41.Education Minister Patrick Ryan and the former head of Le Rocquier
:11:42. > :11:45.School Richard Rolfe. Tune in from seven on Radio Jersey, or follow
:11:45. > :11:55.the debate on Twitter and Facebook. And you can see highlights of that
:11:55. > :11:56.
:11:56. > :12:00.debate here on BBC One tomorrow evening. And now for the weather.
:12:00. > :12:05.Just a few more showers to get out of the way tonight and tomorrow
:12:05. > :12:09.morning and then some dry and sunny weather tomorrow afternoon. However,
:12:09. > :12:14.more wet and windy weather looks likely across the weekend. Tonight,
:12:14. > :12:18.we are in between two weather fronts. The winds died down
:12:18. > :12:23.tomorrow and it will look fine for a time, but we need to look at what
:12:23. > :12:29.is happening in the south. Over Spain a low pressure system will be
:12:29. > :12:33.developed that will send heavy rain and winds away. But if we look at
:12:34. > :12:39.tonight, there will be some dry and clear spells overnight. Just a
:12:39. > :12:43.couple of showers, but remaining dry in many places. A bit of a
:12:43. > :12:47.breeze coming in from the south- west. Temperatures seven or eight
:12:47. > :12:51.Celsius. First thing tomorrow morning, a chance of catching a
:12:51. > :12:56.couple of showers, but for much of the day it should be tried with
:12:56. > :13:03.some sunshine. The winds he's down for a time as well. It should feel
:13:03. > :13:13.more pleasant tomorrow than it has all week. Highs of 15 Celsius.
:13:13. > :13:13.
:13:13. > :13:23.Battersea, some showers, but mainly fair. Here are the times of high
:13:23. > :13:34.
:13:34. > :13:43.water. Here are the times of high As we head towards the weekend,