The education minister today confirmed that East End students will not face a commute to Whitney Institute under school closure plans.

Earlier this year, The Royal Gazetterevealed that a plan to uproot all primary-level children in St George’s and temporarily move them to Whitney Institute Middle School, in Smith’s, had been ditched.

Under questioning in the House of Assembly later, Diallo Rabain refused to confirm whether the Government was dropping its plan to temporarily move the pupils to Whitney.

In the House today, the minister gave an update on school reform

“I can confirm items that are changes to the plan presented in April in response to the constructive feedback provided by our key stakeholders,” he said.

“The planned transition of students from East End, St George's Prep and St David's primary schools to the Whitney Institute Middle School campus, will not proceed.

“Discussions are under way to determine options to present to the parents of St George's parish and the staff of the three schools in this parish.

“However, students finishing P6 at these schools will still transition into middle school M1 until that process is complete.”

The minister said Whitney Institute was projected to close in June 2025 coinciding with the opening of Elliott and Harrington Sound as parish primary schools in September that year.

He added: “In September 2025, all senior schools will start their five-year programmes. This means that students in M2 and M3 will transition to signature senior schools at this point. Until the complete phasing out of the remaining middles schools, students will only do M1 and M2 before transitioning to a signature senior school.”

Mr Rabain said the first signature schools, CedarBridge Academy and The Berkeley Institute, would add additional strands or tracks to their signature programmes for students in September 2025.

Under school reform plans, the Government has created four signature schools and cut the number of primary schools to one per parish, except Pembroke, which will have two.

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“Twenty-four years ago, when the process of reforming our system to the middle school system started, the Bermuda public school system had nearly 7,800 students across 35 buildings,” said the minister.

“Today, we face a different reality — approximately 4,000 students, yet 36 buildings.

“Despite declining public school enrolments, it's crucial to note that public schools continue to educate more students than private institutions. Factors such as declining birth rates and emigration contribute to this trend.

“But what does this mean for us? It clearly indicates that we must re-evaluate and optimise our resources for maximum efficiency and equity.”

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Shadow education minister Ben Smith asked if the number of teachers would stay the same once the reform plans were finished.

The minister said: “It will be our effort to retain as many of our teachers as necessary.

“I cannot stand before Bermuda and promise that every single teacher will be retained and I cannot say who will not be retained. This will be developed as we move along.

“The education reform unit has a working group dedicated to what the future working force and the skill sets of the future working force. We will give every single person the opportunity to skill-up, do whatever needs to be done to be part of this system, and it is not our intention to send people home just because we want to send people home.”