Latest news with #NickHynes
Yahoo
an hour ago
- General
- Yahoo
School earns top ratings in Ofsted report
Le Murier School has received an Excellent rating for personal development and welfare and Sixth-form provision in its latest Ofsted report. The special education school also secured a Good rating across all other categories. The report said pupils were "at the centre of every decision made at Le Murier" and "their additional learning needs are well met". The school's staff were recognised for fostering a welcoming and safe environment, where pupils "are safe, happy and excited to attend school", said the report. Le Murier School opened in September 2008 for pupils of secondary school age with special education needs. The report said staff provided a "highly targeted and expert personal development provision to enable pupils to thrive in school". "Pupils and their parents and carers describe it as a welcoming and friendly place," it added. The report also commended careers and outdoor education initiatives designed to build confidence and independence. Sixth Form students were particularly praised for their enthusiasm towards future aspirations, with post-16 destinations carefully tailored to individual needs. The curriculum was described as ambitious, raising staff expectations and leading to increased academic success, with many pupils earning recognised qualifications in 2024. "To be recognised as Excellent in both our personal development and Sixth Form provision is a testament to the dedication of our staff, the incredible efforts of our students, and the investment of our parents and carers," said headteacher Lee Collier. "This report reflects our school community, where we work together to help every child become the very best they can be." Director of education Nick Hynes said it was a "fantastic achievement for Lee, her team, and the entire Le Murier community". "The inspection highlights the positive, inclusive, and ambitious environment the staff have created," he said. "We're proud of the school's ongoing commitment to excellence and continuous improvement." More news stories for Guernsey Listen to the latest news for Guernsey Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to Concern for special needs pupils amidst reform Volunteers needed to help school 'climb Everest' Princess Anne visits two schools Le Murier School
BBC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Multiple teacher changes in Guernsey 'hard to adjust to'
Guernsey's education department has cut the number of agency staff it uses, however, students say they are still being impacted by the turnover of teaching the 2024/25 academic year, the education department had 151 vacancies and filled 124 permanent appointments - leaving 27 to be filled by agency staff, a drop compared to 2023/24, when there was about 39 agency staff, and 2022/23, when there was more than who studies at the sixth form centre, said to begin with the turnover was "hard to adjust to".Director of Education Nick Hynes said agency staff were "covering either long-term illness, maternity or sitting in posts until the vacant position is filled" permanently. There are about 760 teachers across all stages of education on the island - primary, secondary, special and further education. Ella, who studies the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB), said she had three French teachers and two maths teachers over a two-year period."To begin with the changes were a little bit of a shock and they were hard to adjust to," she said."Some of the teachers that had been introduced to our course, because I do the IB, which is not as common as the A-level, one of our teachers hadn't been trained as well so the adaptation to the syllabus wasn't as stable as it could have been without the teacher turnover," she added. 'Issue across the British Isles' The teaching union NASUWT said teacher recruitment had been an issue for many years and remained a problem. According to data from the union, in the last year 40,000 teachers have left the profession in the UK. It means that the pool of teachers that Guernsey can recruit from has reduced significantly compared to previous years. NASUWT representative Wayne Bates said: "To be honest, it's an issue across the entire British Isles, particularly in certain subjects and certain areas there is a very very large teacher shortage and if the numbers of agency staff in Guernsey have reduced that is obviously welcome."Investment in education is absolutely imperative to ensure the long term economic benefits to the whole of the population on the Island. Investment in education today will provide those benefits in future years."
BBC News
26-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
Guernsey teachers' dedication in Covid remembered five years on
Five years since Guernsey schools closed for the first Covid lockdown, islanders have been looking back at what happened and how the pandemic impacted their lives. Nick Hynes, who at the time was the head of Inclusion and Services for Children and Schools, said it was a "scary" time. "At the time, it felt like we were making very big decisions - not only personally but for the whole community - and not quite understanding what that might mean then and in the future."He said during the lockdown teachers worked through their Easter holidays and supported Guernsey's most vulnerable now director of education said: "After Covid, education was struggling for a long time, because of the ongoing illness of staff and pupils, and the challenges of recruiting and retaining staff."I'll never forget the dedication that staff put in, without complaining." For Kieran James, principal of the Sixth Form Centre, the transition to online learning was the first said: "We started working with telecoms agencies and businesses to distribute wi-fi dongles because we realised immediately that some students couldn't learn online as they didn't have internet access. "We were literally going round dropping dongles and books through people's postboxes so students could learn."I think we all came back thinking, 'we do like school, we like being in school, and this is our community'." Sophia Roger, now 17 and studying at the Sixth Form Centre, said: "I think, as an island, we did deal with it really well. "We came together and did what we were told to do to pretty quickly which prevented any spread [of Covid]."I don't feel that I missed out on too much education, because my school at the time [Blanchelande College] made sure we had what we said the lockdowns taught her to be more grateful."We value things more now. "We value social interactions with our friends and having one-on-one conversations with our teachers, even going out to the shop." Tom Rylatt remembers leaving university in a rush and later struggling to complete his studies he says spending the summer months of the first lockdown in Guernsey gave him a much better experience than that of his peers in the UK."It was one of the only times in my life it felt as though everyone was putting their faith in the States - they were pulling for us and we were pulling for them - which doesn't always feel like the case now."What I remember was community, freedom and good weather."
