Bermuda's public school students begin their school year today after Hurricane Florence have them an extra couple of days summer holiday.

As usual, the start of school will begin anticipation mixed with trepidation as children and teenagers move from one class or school to the next. New teachers, new subjects to learn, and new facilities will be thrown at the pupils.

Usually attention is focused on the five-year-olds who are making their entering "big school" for the first time, but this year just as much attention will be on the new Berkeley Institute as the students occupy what is, by all accounts, a magnificent facility.

There has been a certain amount of debate recently about the shocking cost and time overruns that occurred at the school, which should have opened years ago.

There has also been a fair amount of spin going on to the effect that the scandal should be "put behind us" and that now is the time to celebrate this magnificent new facility.

This is nonsense. No one should ever forget that millions of dollars and years that were squandered on this facility. It is important that those who were responsible be held accountable and that lessons be learned from it so that there is no repeat of it.

It could be argued that Government has learned some lessons from it too well. So obsessed are they with not being seen to waste the public money that they would rather build a new hospital in the middle of the Botanical Gardens than around the current site.

Other lessons do not seem to have been learned at all. There are parallels between Premier and then-Works Minister Alex Scott's stubborn determination to give the Berkeley Institute to contractors Pro-Active over the objections of his civil servants and the determination of Housing Minister David Burch and Health Minister Patrice Minors to ram through plans for housing at Loughlands and the hospital site despite heavy public opposition.

What is important is that the history of the Berkeley project be seen separately from the future of the school. Berkeley, even in its old building, seemed to be getting a lot of things right. Under the guidance of its board of trustees and its principal, Michele Simmons, the school is getting good results and is focused on core principles for learning.

This should only get better in the new building, which will do much for the morale of the staff and the students.

Having said that, bricks, mortar and the latest technology do not guarantee good education. That requires a dedicated staff of teachers, parents who care about their children's learning and the support of the wider community.

Berkeley is fortunate in that it has a proud history and a large and distinguished alumni. But it seems likely that it is Berkeley's very autonomy that helps it to succeed.

Its board and the Berkeley Educational Society enable the school to operate with a certain amount of freedom to demand high standards and to enforce them.

The shame of it is that more schools do not have the same autonomy. The Ministry of Education now has a new Minister and a relatively new Permanent Secretary who have experience in teaching and can draw on experiences from outside the Bermuda system.

That's important, and the first thing they should do is to look at devolving power away from the often stifling bureaucracy that characterises the Ministry and to the schools and the communities they serve.