26/04/2012 BBC Channel Islands News

In need of a break - the families who say they've been let down and

aren't getting the help they need. Also, aiming for the top - we speak

to one of the men who wants to be Guernsey's next Chief Minister.

And a perfect Finnish? Is learning from Finland the way forward for

Good evening. Families who need a break from caring for their

disabled and autistic children in Jersey are not getting the help

they need. In some cases respite services have been so unpredictable

families have had to give up their children into full time care. The

findings are contained in a report by a group of States members after

one mother, coping with a daughter with cerebral palsy, raised

concerns. Natasha Bratch needs help with

every aspect of her life from the moment she gets up in the morning

until she goes to bed. Her mother Lesley feeds her, takes her to the

bathroom and puts her to bed at night. Lesley has three other

children and has always managed to take care of her youngest, but it's

been with the help of respite care. When the children were growing up,

it gave us time to be with the other children because there are

certain things you cannot do when you have a child with special needs.

So it gave a special family time, time to be with my husband.

Today the health, social secuirty and housing scrutiny committee

reported on the state of respite care on the island. It found that

there has been two decades of under-investment. Without that help

some families have split up under the strain or sent their children

into full-time care. There just isn't enough to cope with today's

society. Our population has grown by 10,000 over the last 10 years.

This is one of the bedrooms at Oakwell where Natasha comes for her

respite care. It is specially designed for children with

disabilities. It is facilities like this that cannot be got elsewhere

and that is why families need specialist respite care.

The report found the standard of care in its homes is high, although

the properties need updating. But there were times when the homes

were used to house full-time emergency cases there because they

had no where else to go. That meant families, including the Bratchs,

went weeks without any respite at all.

For Lesley there was never any question that she would look after

her youngest daughter at home, but an entire school summer holiday

without respite was a strain on the whole family. Respite is a much

needed glue which helps the family stay together. Now the States will

review the report and see what more it can do to help families who look

after their vunerable children. 90 jobs are to be lost at HSBC in

Jersey and six in Guernsey. The move is part of a major

restructuring of the bank's business in the UK. The Chief

Executive of the Channel Islands Nick Winsor anticipates that many

employees will find alternative roles.' He added that HSBC remains

committed to the Channel Islands. There's just days to go until

Guernsey chooses a new leader and with the current Chief Minister

Deputy Lyndon Trott already out of the contest, the island's deputies

now have just one man to choose from, unless the rules are changed

on who can stand. Mike Wilkins met the only official candidate for the

top job. Thank you for joining us. Take a seat. Obviously we have got

the nominations now bought Chief Minister. From your perspective,

why do you feel that you should be Chief Minister? I think there has

been a sea-change in Guernsey politics and what has been really

exciting and encouraging is the electorate has engaged far more in

this election than, well, in living history. I know what is going on on

what we face a head, which is going to be more concerning than we have

had in the last four years. We need to make some difficult decisions

and we need to communicate that effectively to our people. But we

also need to inspire hope and I don't think people want a

continuation of the this functionality that has been the

case in the past. There has been talk about the role of the Chief

Minister. Some feel it should be phased out, some feel there should

be more power. There are two sides to the Chief Minister. He has to do

with the Policy Council and represent Jersey. The Chief

Minister can delegate and I think at the moment, because of what the

electorate has said in terms of change, we need more of that

delegation. If you do not make Chief Minister, what are your

political aspirations? I would like to serve on the quality council and

I would be keen on taking on the mandate of a former deputy at the

Home Department. I still have that in my mind. Thank you.

We all know Channel Islands schools follow the English curriculum, with

students sitting GCSE and A level exams. However, in international

terms the English curriculum isn't that highly regarded. The

Organisation for Economic and Cultural Development, or OECD,

ranks education systems around the world on how well their children

grasp literacy, maths and science. The UK came 23rd and the exam

structure may be the reason. As part of our special series on

education, Clare Burton has travelled to Finland, which came

third overall, to see what the Finland is a country that revolves

around water. Famous for fishing, more so these days for the Nokia

mobile phone, and even more so, for its clean streets, low crime rate

and great public services. Snow may cover the ground in April, but

quality of life here is the envy of the world, especially when it comes

to education. Welcome to this score in the Finnish capital. It may not

look much, but what is going on in the classrooms is making young

people more rounded individuals. On the surface, what is going on

inside is actually pretty standard. At this the basic school, which

goes up to the edge of 15, students learn maths, literature, home

economics, would work, just like hour 15-year-old really. But there

are crucial differences. Students here are not strained by ability.

In fact, the whole system is completely comprehensive, with a

miniscule private sector. They sit no national tests. There is no

formal school inspection and schools are not rant against each

other. -- ranked against each other. It's an approach that goes down

well with teachers. It is important in Finland. Parents trust the

teachers, the children trusts the teachers. We do not need any system

to test and test and test the children. The trust principle

sounds unorthodox, but according to be OECD, it works. Finland is that

in its world education rankings. Britain is 23rd. And it is here in

this rather large glass building behind me be Finnish National Board

of Education draws up that curricular a can -- curriculum,

much admired across the world. aim to reach Equity, equality and

high quality at the same time, and we also think we have succeeded

quite well in that. So all our schools are equal in the sense that

they produce good learning results. Parents don't have to be where to

put their children, they can choose the nearest school and all schools

are taking good care of their children. How can you know that is

working if you are not doing regular national testing of

publishing those results? First of all, if we would test all aware

children, it would open the floor for school comparisons and we don't

want that. The other reason is that if we'd had an national test the

natural consequence would be that teachers start to teach for the

Test and tests are always quite narrowed because we don't use our

money to inspect schools or having these national tests. We use our

money to provide support for children. How much of this boils

down to money? Do you spend more on education than other places?

don't. That is not the reason because the amount of money we put

to education is a little bit less than beat OECD average. So you

can't explain it with money, and teachers' salaries are something

like the average of academic professionals, so you cannot

explain teachers's good work with their salary. Education here is

almost comprehensive. How do you views selection in schools? Weeping

children learn a lot from each other, so more able children, they

support those who are not so able. -- we think children learn. We do

not one to set any obstacles for children to move forward. Well,

equality here even extends to school meals - free for all and has

been for decades. Cultural factors like this certainly explain some of

Findon's success, but it takes political will to put their values

into practice. -- Finland's. There seems little appetite to follow

hour snow capped European friends back home in the Channel Islands.

Well, there's a live radio debate on the Jersey education system

starting at 7pm. Clare is chairing and on the panel we'll hear from

Education Minister Patrick Ryan and the former head of Le Rocquier

School Richard Rolfe. Tune in from seven on Radio Jersey, or follow

the debate on Twitter and Facebook. And you can see highlights of that

debate here on BBC One tomorrow evening. And now for the weather.

Just a few more showers to get out of the way tonight and tomorrow

morning and then some dry and sunny weather tomorrow afternoon. However,

more wet and windy weather looks likely across the weekend. Tonight,

we are in between two weather fronts. The winds died down

tomorrow and it will look fine for a time, but we need to look at what

is happening in the south. Over Spain a low pressure system will be

developed that will send heavy rain and winds away. But if we look at

tonight, there will be some dry and clear spells overnight. Just a

couple of showers, but remaining dry in many places. A bit of a

breeze coming in from the south- west. Temperatures seven or eight

Celsius. First thing tomorrow morning, a chance of catching a

couple of showers, but for much of the day it should be tried with

some sunshine. The winds he's down for a time as well. It should feel

more pleasant tomorrow than it has all week. Highs of 15 Celsius.

Battersea, some showers, but mainly fair. Here are the times of high

water. Here are the times of high As we head towards the weekend,