Plans to abdicate responsibility for housing Sark's secondary students withdrawn

Sark's Education Committee has withdrawn proposals to make parents and carers responsible for housing the island's secondary school students overseas.

Children aged over 13 are educated in Guernsey schools and live with host families.

It's after secondary school education in Sark was scrapped in 2019.

Families in Sark have to find Guernsey host families for their children to continue their education.

But this year many have struggled to find temporary homes to accommodate their children.

The Education Committee had put forward plans to formally abdicate responsibility for arranging secondary education for the island's children.

They were due to be debated in a special sitting of the Chief Pleas tomorrow (17 August).

The proposals came under fire from the island's Board of Education, who said there needed to be proper consultation first.

Conseiller Fern Turner, Chair of the Education Committee said that the proposals and meeting were "never requested by the current committee" and were "put in place and actioned by the previous Chair and the civil servants."

She said: "We feel that following on from the recent email from the board of Education and consultation with some Conseillers and members of the public, that we would be remiss to proceed as is, at this moment in time."On Tuesday 26 July, Sark's Chief Pleas rejected proposals to rent a home for the children saying the house was not viable and would wreck Sark's finances.