:00:12. > :00:17.Good evening. The top stories this Friday evening, calling for called.
:00:17. > :00:23.After having his hopes dashed, Lee Merrien is finally selected for the
:00:23. > :00:30.Olympics. 20 years after thousands of tons of potatoes were dumped on
:00:30. > :00:33.this Jersey beach, if taxpayers are still paying the price.
:00:33. > :00:36.Educating for the future. At the end of our series looking at the
:00:36. > :00:44.Jersey education system, we bring you a special programme with
:00:44. > :00:47.highlights of last night's live Nadia debate. -- radio debate.
:00:47. > :00:57.skew the intakes of schools and some benefit at the expense of the
:00:57. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :01:14.Guernsey Atlee Lee Merrien has made the Olympic marathon team. It
:01:14. > :01:15.
:01:15. > :01:20.follows an appeal after he failed to automatically qualifies.
:01:20. > :01:24.Today it was not quite the result he walked off. This was the moment
:01:24. > :01:29.when Lee Merrien missed out on automatic Olympic -- Olympic
:01:29. > :01:34.qualification. He crossed the line as the fastest British runner and
:01:34. > :01:39.ran a personal best. It was 90 seconds outside the Team GB
:01:39. > :01:43.required qualification time. Shortly after the race, he tweeted
:01:43. > :01:47.his disappointment, saying he was gutted and had not reached the
:01:47. > :01:54.Olympic time. Following the marathon as support paid was
:01:54. > :02:02.launched which has about 3,000 likes. He was calling for the
:02:02. > :02:07.Olympic Selection Committee to reconsider and today they dead.
:02:07. > :02:16.appealed and they decided my performance was good enough to
:02:16. > :02:19.warrant selection. I will just go out there and do my best.
:02:19. > :02:23.Merrien is currently on holiday with his family but says after the
:02:23. > :02:30.break he will resume training so he will give his best performance in
:02:30. > :02:35.London this summer. Apologies about the technical problems. Next
:02:35. > :02:40.tonight, there could be job losses at a mail-order firm in Guernsey
:02:40. > :02:44.following the decision to scrap LVCR. Talks were held at the
:02:44. > :02:48.greeting company Moonpig, the BBC understands well the majority of
:02:48. > :02:51.the business will stay in Guernsey part of it will move elsewhere. It
:02:51. > :02:55.will affect a small number of jobs. Moonpig said it had had to make
:02:55. > :03:04.some tough decisions and it has moved it to ensure the business
:03:04. > :03:08.continues. The company believes it has a bright future ahead.
:03:08. > :03:13.Pollution is still being pumped away from Beauport 10 years after
:03:13. > :03:17.thousands of potatoes were dumped there. It may be another 10 years
:03:17. > :03:26.before the pumping can stop. Potatoes were dumped in 1992
:03:26. > :03:31.because of a glut in the market. This is Beauport Beach today.
:03:32. > :03:36.Lovely sand and blue seas. One of the island's real beauty spots. 20
:03:36. > :03:41.years ago the sand was turned black as a foul-smelling liquid crept
:03:41. > :03:45.down from their head land. Reg Langois was the campaigner who
:03:45. > :03:53.alerted the States to the folly of allowing 10,000 tons of Jersey
:03:53. > :03:58.Royals to be buried. Two miles away I could smell it and it was
:03:58. > :04:07.horrible. Tankers had to collect the waist and transported to the
:04:07. > :04:14.sewage works to stop it from smelling. Engineers built upon
:04:14. > :04:22.PlayStation -- a pumping station at the cost of lots of money. They
:04:22. > :04:26.believe it will be needed for the next 10 years. There was a serious
:04:26. > :04:33.incident 20 years ago and we have been treating it ever since.
:04:33. > :04:38.Although there has been degradation, it has gone to about 10% strength.
:04:38. > :04:42.We cannot put to back. Beauport fears there may be another problem
:04:42. > :04:52.caused by the dumping which has not been recognised. -- Reg Langois
:04:52. > :04:52.
:04:52. > :04:58.fears. Instead of being a lovely, a flat field, it is a crater. The
:04:58. > :05:05.potatoes are causing subsidence. They are obviously rotten. It is
:05:05. > :05:08.very dangerous for anyone passing over the top. The campaigner
:05:08. > :05:14.believes the land above his beauties but should be cordoned off
:05:14. > :05:19.until it is safe. -- this beauty spot.
:05:19. > :05:22.Audio recordings of Guernsey French are now available from islanders on
:05:22. > :05:28.line. Guernesiais is currently being archive alongside other
:05:28. > :05:35.endangered Languages at a facility in London. This local teacher
:05:35. > :05:38.collected the material and says it is a vital resource. What we find
:05:38. > :05:42.is when we ask people they are quite pleased to be recorded, and
:05:42. > :05:46.they feel it is something they are doing for the island are for future
:05:46. > :05:54.generations. There is also the element that people have an
:05:54. > :05:57.opportunity to get together and be recorded. We heard yesterday from
:05:57. > :06:01.the only official candidate to be Guernsey's next chief minister
:06:02. > :06:05.following the news his competition Lyndon Trott was pulling out. There
:06:05. > :06:15.is another potential candidate, pinning his hopes on a rule change
:06:15. > :06:18.that would allow him to stand. Deputy elect Peter Hartwood, you
:06:18. > :06:23.call yourself a candidate in waiting, because unless the rules
:06:24. > :06:28.changed you cannot stand officially. If that happens, why are you the
:06:28. > :06:32.right man for the job? I can bring a wealth of experience, not
:06:32. > :06:38.necessarily from inside but right side. I have been a practising
:06:38. > :06:47.advocate for 30 years, worked in the Thatcher services sector, and
:06:47. > :06:51.also been in and around politics. - - Financial Services. There will be
:06:51. > :06:57.those who are worried you do not have experience as a politician,
:06:57. > :07:05.what would you say? I would say epic there is an advantage in not
:07:05. > :07:12.having it because I have not got any political baggage. By been a
:07:12. > :07:20.newcomer writer not have that baggage. What do you think of the
:07:20. > :07:29.raw moving forward. My approach will be trying to maintain cohesion.
:07:29. > :07:35.I will maintain harmony. I can then drive harmony through it. I will be
:07:35. > :07:42.focusing internally on the island, and they appreciate a will have to
:07:42. > :07:48.go off the island for various things but I will delegate that.
:07:48. > :07:54.you don't get the job, where would you like to end up? I'd quite like
:07:54. > :08:03.to be involved with social security. That is an important portfolio and
:08:03. > :08:13.important decisions have to be taken. The accused. -- thank you.
:08:13. > :08:13.
:08:13. > :08:16.We will have full coverage next week. Thanks for being with us.
:08:17. > :08:24.Later in the programme, the weather, and we bring you highlights from
:08:24. > :08:30.the live debate on the future of Jersey's education system. When you
:08:30. > :08:40.have selection by fees are by faith or by ability you skewed the intake.
:08:40. > :08:42.
:08:42. > :08:48.I think that is unfair. Make sure you stay tuned. An
:08:48. > :08:52.estimated 7,000 people watched Jersey's top amateur footballers
:08:52. > :09:02.and rugby starts this weekend. After all eyes is likely on the
:09:02. > :09:03.
:09:03. > :09:13.Isle of Man for their game tomorrow. It is the biggest match of their
:09:13. > :09:16.history. By a record crowd is expected at St Peter. The rugby
:09:16. > :09:21.team will be presented with their trophy. We will bring all of those
:09:21. > :09:25.trophy. We will bring all of those highlights next week. The where
:09:25. > :09:31.there now. We have an unsettled weekend ahead. The rain will arrive
:09:31. > :09:36.quite quickly. It will be replaced by showers on Sunday. To sum up,
:09:36. > :09:43.heavy rain is possible, it will become windy, showers will come on
:09:43. > :09:48.Sunday. We have area of low pressure right down here in the
:09:48. > :09:54.southern parts of the Bay of Biscay and over Spain and Portugal. It
:09:54. > :10:00.develops through the day and will be quite a long way away from us.
:10:00. > :10:07.Low-pressure moves across the south-west. Not only will it be
:10:07. > :10:13.windy we will also see heavy rain. Tonight we will see some isolated
:10:13. > :10:17.showers, and some dry weather. Temperatures will be down to seven
:10:17. > :10:20.or eight degrees. The win will pick up through the day tomorrow and
:10:20. > :10:30.after finds that the cloud and the rain will roll-up and after lunch
:10:30. > :10:32.
:10:32. > :10:38.it will be quite wet. If you are following the football, it should
:10:38. > :10:44.be a fine day tomorrow one Douglas. You could follow all the details on
:10:44. > :10:54.your radio station. Closer to home, the wind will pick up and we will
:10:54. > :10:54.
:10:54. > :11:04.see ahead breaks of rain by tomorrow. Times of high water at St
:11:04. > :11:08.
:11:08. > :11:17.Helier, 11:06am. Most beaches will be clean. By Sunday we have windy
:11:17. > :11:24.conditions and heavy showers. It conditions and heavy showers. It
:11:24. > :11:27.will be water. Here is the summary. Wrap up warm. This week we had been
:11:27. > :11:34.reporting on the education system and we have seen how the system
:11:34. > :11:37.produces very different results depending on which school you go to.
:11:37. > :11:42.The Education Minister has confirmed his intention to continue
:11:42. > :11:49.subsidising the fee-paying schools. To gauge reaction about what you
:11:49. > :11:54.think, the BBC held a public debate last night. I will leave you with
:11:54. > :12:04.those highlights and a few moments. I am back with an update just
:12:04. > :12:10.
:12:10. > :12:14.before 8pm. Thank you. Good evening. We are putting secondary education
:12:14. > :12:21.in our island under the Spotlight. Joining the for the debate we have
:12:21. > :12:31.the former Det that should a former head, journalists, the Education
:12:31. > :12:51.
:12:51. > :12:56.Minister, and the former head of Good evening and welcome. Welcome
:12:56. > :13:04.to this debate on the future of secondary education. The first
:13:04. > :13:08.question is from the audience. does the panel consider that the
:13:08. > :13:13.significance state subsidy of private education impact on the
:13:13. > :13:19.education provided to other children? I will come to the
:13:19. > :13:28.education minister. My job is to make sure it doesn't. In a nutshell,
:13:28. > :13:34.I would like to emphasise that. That is not to say that I do not
:13:34. > :13:38.value what the fee-paying sector does. I want to support and
:13:38. > :13:45.improved the non fee-paying sector, but without destabilising the fee-
:13:45. > :13:51.paying sector. I am trying to keep the best of all worlds. It is
:13:51. > :13:58.tricky. Richard, you have Totton one of these schools that the other
:13:59. > :14:06.children go to. What is the impact that this system is having? It is
:14:06. > :14:10.not about money. Everybody has fallen into that trap. There is a
:14:10. > :14:20.lot of money in the system and if there was more money in the system
:14:20. > :14:21.
:14:21. > :14:27.there would still be issues. If you ask yourself it is a fair system,
:14:27. > :14:32.is it? Who looks after those who are the most honourable and who
:14:32. > :14:40.looks after those that have the mental health issues? Who looks
:14:40. > :14:44.after those who cannot afford it? It is not about money, it is about
:14:44. > :14:50.who looks after the most vulnerable, and who cannot get into those
:14:50. > :14:57.schools. Fiona Millar, what you think the impact will be on those
:14:57. > :15:02.most vulnerable children? I am not from Jersey so I can only talk to
:15:02. > :15:06.you about what I know about the English system. Wherever you have
:15:06. > :15:16.selection by fees or by faith caught by ability, you skew the
:15:16. > :15:20.
:15:20. > :15:23.intake. That is fundamentally Does the panel believes that there
:15:23. > :15:31.are many aspects of students' education that are important, not
:15:31. > :15:38.only exam results? And that the creation of league tables leads to
:15:38. > :15:43.the achievements of last students? It is an absolute nonsense to have
:15:43. > :15:50.bleak tables. They should never have been intention to publish
:15:50. > :15:57.league tables. In terms of league tables, what are you measuring?
:15:57. > :16:00.What are you saying to those students who get bad results? It is
:16:00. > :16:06.nonsense to publish league tables based on very narrow measures.
:16:06. > :16:16.There just one part of a child's education. How can we then measure
:16:16. > :16:21.
:16:21. > :16:26.what the different Jersey schools are producing? To compare our
:16:26. > :16:30.schools with what is generally available, to make that of any use
:16:30. > :16:35.at all to parents, we would have to include so much contextual
:16:35. > :16:41.information that it would make them frankly unreadable for parents.
:16:41. > :16:46.does the public know which school is performing well? We are
:16:46. > :16:56.committed to publishing everything that there is to publish. Let's go
:16:56. > :17:05.to another question now. I am clearly a Jersey resident and I am
:17:05. > :17:10.her retired teacher. Every society needs an educated elite, but does
:17:10. > :17:16.every 11-year-old in Jersey now have the chance one day to become
:17:16. > :17:23.of one of the brain surgeons, business leaders, government
:17:23. > :17:29.ministers of the future? Or is it increasingly and heavily now in
:17:29. > :17:37.favour of theirs who can have it -- in favour of those who can afford
:17:37. > :17:46.school fees? I'm not sure if I would put government minister in
:17:46. > :17:49.the same category as brain surgeon! I think the proof is in the fact
:17:49. > :17:53.that I have met many people from different walks of life who have
:17:53. > :17:58.become incredibly successful coming from all sorts of backgrounds in
:17:59. > :18:02.Jersey. It does unfortunately still help to have the privilege of money
:18:02. > :18:08.behind you, but I think we do have a system here where people can
:18:08. > :18:13.achieve. One of the problems we have, we perhaps put too much
:18:13. > :18:18.emphasis on the education system to educate children can and should --
:18:18. > :18:22.and we should actually make sure the parents take their part as well.
:18:22. > :18:27.Unfortunately, the parents who do not take responsibility but not
:18:27. > :18:35.generally send their children were fee-paying school. You have done
:18:35. > :18:40.parental background, the things that are likely to influence Howard
:18:40. > :18:45.child behaves in school. Some children get to her and others
:18:45. > :18:52.don't. On the whole, the better if you are, the more likely you are to
:18:52. > :18:58.get through. Access to doing A- level courses, only some schools do
:18:58. > :19:07.them, you and you do need to get A- levels if you want to go on to be
:19:07. > :19:13.further educated. I would take issue with the fact that you must
:19:13. > :19:20.have an education level. In England, when we did have that educated
:19:20. > :19:27.elite, we didn't do terribly well. It doesn't seem to me to be very
:19:27. > :19:34.fair at all. Richard, you dealt with children coming to school at
:19:34. > :19:38.the age of 11. How can you at aspire to them? It is very
:19:38. > :19:44.important that you don't write people off at the age of 11 or 15,
:19:44. > :19:48.it is about giving everybody a chance. Even if they mess up aged
:19:48. > :19:51.25 or 26 or whatever, there is always an opportunity as long as
:19:51. > :19:57.they have had that confidence built into them and that resilience built
:19:57. > :20:01.into them. The answer is, you inspire them. Jamie Swanson asks,
:20:01. > :20:11.does the panel agreed that it is cheaper to be paid -- to pay part
:20:11. > :20:13.
:20:13. > :20:17.of the police had to pay 100 % of the cost? Did you want to keep the
:20:17. > :20:25.fee subsidy as it is so it made it cheaper for the pub -- the public
:20:25. > :20:29.purse? No, it is the absurdity of the proposition to cut the subsidy
:20:29. > :20:38.to save money. Or we would have needed was one of the schools to
:20:38. > :20:45.close -- all we would have needed. Then all the taxpayer would have --
:20:45. > :20:54.then the taxpayer would have had to pick up all cost. It would have
:20:54. > :20:58.been bonkers. So parents paying schools are subsidising. Do you
:20:58. > :21:00.think that is a good model for provision? A no, I would say that
:21:01. > :21:05.investing a bit of money in a fully comprehensive system in Jersey
:21:05. > :21:10.would be a wonderful investment for the future of all the children.
:21:11. > :21:20.Comprehensive systems are the oness that worked best for all children,
:21:21. > :21:21.
:21:21. > :21:24.not just the elite. It is a fact. should turn to the minister now. We
:21:24. > :21:28.have had e-mails asking this week if you're committed to keeping the
:21:28. > :21:35.fee subsidy as it is all we you try as your predecessor did to reduce
:21:35. > :21:41.the amount the States pay? Grant reductions lead to fee increases of
:21:41. > :21:45.one kind or another. That would impact of very large number of
:21:45. > :21:51.middle-income, ordinary Jersey families. The fact of the matter is
:21:51. > :21:55.that if we were to go from what we have now to a fully comprehensive
:21:55. > :22:02.UK star system, for example, it would cost us �11.2 million per
:22:02. > :22:09.year. That is what the tax payers would have to pay. Let's turn back
:22:09. > :22:14.to the audience now. Jersey, like many other places in western Europe,
:22:14. > :22:17.is facing concerns over youth unemployment. To the panel consider
:22:18. > :22:25.that specific programmes should be delivered in schools to support
:22:25. > :22:30.students to meet the needs of local businesses and the local community?
:22:30. > :22:37.The answer is yes, very clearly. But getting resources to do that is
:22:37. > :22:43.extremely difficult. In the end, at a school, we work with local
:22:44. > :22:49.businesses and set up Arran courses on a shoestring. Do you think the
:22:49. > :22:53.schools are serving your needs and other employers well enough? As an
:22:53. > :22:57.employer, I am disappointed sometimes that people go off to
:22:57. > :23:00.university and get a degree that is of little use on the island and
:23:00. > :23:04.then come back and be very disappointed when they have trouble
:23:04. > :23:08.getting a job. I think what will happen is employers will start
:23:08. > :23:12.looking for much more relevant degrees. Do we have many employers
:23:12. > :23:18.in the audience who have an opinion on this? The chap in the white
:23:18. > :23:22.shirt? For me, it is about the people, what they can do,
:23:22. > :23:29.adaptability, creativity, that is what I look for. None of that is
:23:29. > :23:37.coming through the schools. The one of the problems with IT, I agree
:23:37. > :23:39.entirely, IT is delivered because it is part of the national
:23:39. > :23:43.curriculum and because there is a qualification at the end of it. It
:23:43. > :23:50.is not a great qualification, it doesn't teach the schools -- the
:23:50. > :23:57.skills that you want to be taught in schools. It wants to be a
:23:57. > :24:03.different qualification to. wasn't having a pop at the teachers
:24:03. > :24:09.all the schools. I was saying that the system does not deliver. For me,
:24:09. > :24:15.it is about that adaptability. A look for something within a person,
:24:15. > :24:19.not what they had been educated in during a maths or chemistry lesson.
:24:19. > :24:27.I believe the system currently does not deal with that. Anybody else
:24:27. > :24:34.have a question? As far as an employer is concerned, I have an
:24:34. > :24:38.attitude -- I hire an attitude. I had to employ somebody the other
:24:39. > :24:43.day and it took me two minutes to hire the one individual that I
:24:43. > :24:48.thought was good for the job, because they smiled at me, they had
:24:48. > :24:58.something about them. I got that message within two minutes. May I
:24:58. > :25:04.
:25:04. > :25:11.ask which school the candidate went to? It was hoped ballet. -- Valet.
:25:11. > :25:15.I am of the fortunate position to be it a head teacher. One of the
:25:15. > :25:25.issues was creating a league tables is that you always get winners and
:25:25. > :25:29.losers -- with creating. From what you know of our education system,
:25:29. > :25:34.Fiona, this man has bought up the issue of winners and losers. Do
:25:34. > :25:38.think that is a danger in the selective system such as ours?
:25:38. > :25:41.Gaudy thing we have got it right? There are always too many winners
:25:41. > :25:44.and losers in a selective system. It is based are rejecting the
:25:44. > :25:48.minority and those children know they have been rejected. It is
:25:48. > :25:51.something they often carry with them through life. There are so
:25:51. > :25:56.much scientific evidence about children's brains developing in
:25:56. > :26:02.their teenage years. Somebody who might fail a test at 11 could have
:26:02. > :26:11.potential which that test would not show at all. But as a worry. --