Calls to repurpose former school site

Some islanders want to see a former school site repurposed, after parishioners voted to sell the building on the open market.

The property in St Clement, Jersey, was most recently home to St Christopher's private school before it closed in 2025.

On Tuesday, 22 parishioners voted to sell the property. Six voted against.

In June, Constable Marcus Troy said once sold they would "use that money for extra facilities for the parishioners". The Government of Jersey has been approached for comment.

Andy Whelan, who lives in the parish, said he was in favour of the sale.

"If the parish believes this is an opportunity to create further funds that can be used within the parish, for the benefit of parishioners, then that can make a lot of sense."

James McAteer, who has been a parishioner for 35 years, carried out repairs on the site decades ago, when he had a building company.

He called it an "iconic building" with a "beautiful frontage that must be kept".

He said the parish should "develop it themselves" and rent it out.

"If you sell the building, you have lost control of it... it could become a disaster.

"The value of that building is massive, and it is very repairable," he said.

Maria Millen said her three daughters had attended St Clement's School in the 1980s, at which point the St Christopher's school building was used by the juniors.

Millen said she had "fond memories" of this time.

"It's a lovely robust building. I hope it will be repurposed in a beneficial way and not just turned into flats."

Andy Davidson said "we can't keep empty buildings because we have memories, develop it into something useful".

Tonia Cadec Anderton said she had "lots of memories" of that building and called it "a sad loss".

"Maybe the actual ratepayers should be consulted about its future, especially when we're continuously being told we need more schools, why not utilise what's already there instead of building new?"

Andrew Wright said he wanted to see it turned into "a school for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)".

"It has capacity for up to 70 children, and arguably it's a much better use of resources turning it into a specialist school... rather than selling it on to a private investor who turns it into something else."

Education Minister, Deputy Catherine Curtis said 'all suggestions and ideas for the future of the site will be carefully considered'.

Troy, St Clement Constable, declined to be interviewed following the parish assembly, but speaking to the BBC after he was re-elected on 7 June, he said selling the school would be his first priority of the new political term.

"The previous owners owed us quite a lot of money and we have been looking into trying to sell it to people for an educational purpose," he said.

"We had seven applicants for that and none of those actually transpired.

"So we're going to put it on the open market and use that money for extra facilities for the parishioners in the future."

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