From Clive Jones.
THERE’S a lot of gloominess about at the moment. I therefore hope you’ll allow me to offer, as an alternative, something I believe is a good news story.

City and Guilds, formed in 1878 as a vocational training organisation, is widely respected at home and abroad for the quality of vocational training it provides.

Every year it awards one Medal of Excellence in each of the 26 occupational sectors covered by its work. Learners who narrowly fail to reach this standard receive a Highly Recommended Certificate.

Since 1999, students and teachers from Highlands have been awarded 13 Medals of Excellence or Highly Recommended Certificates.

For the recipients this will have been an extra recognition of their talent and hard work. But it is also a resounding tribute to Ed Sallis and his team and the standards they have set and maintained.

In another piece of good news, ten students graduated in November from the foundation degree in financial studies course, receiving their BA degrees from Plymouth University. This was a degree course conceived in Jersey, designed in close co-operation with the finance industry, and which will over time feed a steady stream of home-grown graduates into the Island’s most important industry.

Perhaps less well known is the fact that students today can study for nine different degrees at Highlands. This is a far cry from the Highlands that people tend to recall, and is another illustration of the breadth of what it can provide to both young and mature students in Jersey.

Thanks to the judicious use of fiscal stimulus funding, Highlands took on an additional 156 students in 2010, bringing the total full-time student population to a remarkable 981.

Not only did this save these 156 young people from becoming Neets – not in employment, education or training – but it also demonstrated the ability of the team at Highlands to respond to economic conditions in the Island and to do its bit for the community.

Possibly less widely known is the fact that Highlands’ exam results across the board place it in the top five per cent of further education colleges in the UK. This is a remarkable achievement for a college if its size and once again reflects great credit on the college’s leadership team and staff.

Simply because Highlands has been there for a long time, it is possible for these achievements – which are just a few examples of many – to be overlooked. The fact is that Highlands is a huge asset to the community as a whole.

The Island is right to want a further education college that is the best it can be. In fact, the principal and his team regularly deliver one that is among the best there is.
Let me end by encouraging everyone to come and have a look at Highlands and, I hope, take the same pride as I and my fellow governors do in what it is and what it does for Jersey.