Channel 103 has been given a tour of the new Les Quennevais School, which welcomed Year 7 and 11 students for the first time today.
Staff and students waved fairwell to the old school in July, knowing that a £40million state of the art facility was waiting for them in September.
It includes a university-style lecture room, a creative arts space and immersive technology department.
So this is it! Our very last day in the big green machine! What a wonderful friend it has been to Jersey all of us @LesQuennevaisSc will be feeling a little emotional today. End of an era but an exciting new one awaits! Farewell old friend x pic.twitter.com/LQYnIPMRCi
— Sarah Hague (@SarahHagueStG) July 16, 2020
Head Teacher Sarah Hague says she is extremely proud of the new school, and those who occupy it.
"It’s incredible, its everything we’ve ever dreamed of, it's the realisation of a vision that we’ve had for learning and facilities, which shows students what an aspirational environment can feel like. It’s a very adult environment, we wanted it to feel like a university, we wanted to capture that imagination in the children’s future and it’s got some amazing resources for them to access, but it feels like home very quickly as well which is lovely.
"The building is a building, it’s a magnificent building don’t get me wrong; we are very lucky. But a school is about the people, which is what sets our school apart I believe. It’s what you do in the building that counts that makes your school special."
Les Quennevais welcomed the youngest and oldest to the new school today, with other year groups returning next week.
"Seeing year 11 today coming in, as we haven’t seen them since march properly all together, was wonderful. They were all so excited and overjoyed to be here, they were so proud of their school and a significant number were outside welcoming the year 7s who have never been in a secondary school let alone this one, so that was probably very daunting for them this morning, but with a little bit of excitement.
"The year 7s have been amazingly adaptable, they are very resilient kids and they’ve gone from some of them feeling a bit anxious and within half an hour it’s like they’ve never been away. They’re talking nonstop and are blown away by the building. They’ve already made some friends so that for me those first hours as so important to get right for everybody."
Mrs. Hague also says the staff were equally as excited as their students.
"I have this expression, I say 'sometimes I feel like a dog with two tails' because I get so excited about this building, the staff are all like dogs with two tails, they are so happy and feel really invested in as professionals, they feel now they’ve got the missing piece in the jigsaw to really fly, they’re excited about what they can do and they’ve been so looking forward to getting the children back."
With the excitement of the brand new school, staff have made sure to maintain all guidelines put in place for Covid government guidelines.
"People are being very sensible, students and staff, we are all aware of what we can and can’t do and we just want to make sure that everybody is safe as they can be whilst having as normal an experience as they possibly can at the same time which is what I think we are able to do."
Channel 103 has filmed a tour with Mrs Hague for all past students, and nosy islanders (like us!) who want to see what it looks like. You can watch by clicking the play button at the top of the page.
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