QU OF NT AT A FE RU

BERMUDA

EDUCATION (PRIMARY SCHOOLS)

2023 : 1

WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the implementation, in phases, of public education reforms in relation to aided and maintained schools that provide primary school education; and to make consequential amendments; Be it enacted by The King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and the House of Assembly of Bermuda, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

PART I — Preliminary Provisions

Citation

1 This Act may be cited as the Education (Primary Schools) Temporary Act 2023.

2. Status of this Act in relation to principal Act

(1) This Act—

(a) shall be read as one with the principal Act; and

(b) operates notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the principal Act.

(2) On the date of publication of an Order under section 8 of this Act, the principal Act and not this Act, operates in respect of the primary school specified in the Order.

3. Interpretation

(1) In this Act— “aided school” has the meaning given in section 2(1) of the principal Act; “maintained school” has the meaning given in section 2(1) of the principal Act; “primary school” means an aided or maintained school that provides primary school education; “primary school education” means education suitable to the requirements of a child who has attained the age of five years but who has not attained the age of fourteen years; “principal Act” means the Education Act 1996; “reform” has the meaning given in subsection (2).

(2) For the purposes of this Act, “reform” means all matters that relate to the reform of primary school education for children from the age of five years (primary year 1) up to the age of fourteen years (primary year 8).

(3) For the purposes of this Act, the level of schooling in relation to a pupil attending a school listed in the Schedule is the period beginning with his becoming of compulsory school age and ending at the same time as the school year in which the majority of the pupils in his class attain the age of thirteen years.

EDUCATION (PRIMARY SCHOOLS) TEMPORARY ACT 2023

PART II — Reform of Primary Schools

Minister to implement reforms

4 The Minister shall implement the reforms.

5. Implementation of reforms by Order

(1) Where the Minister has made a determination to implement the reforms in respect of a particular primary school, the Minister shall by Order amend the Schedule by adding the name of that school to that Schedule.

(2) Orders made under subsection (1) are subject to the negative resolution procedure.

6. Parents may select primary or middle school education

(1) Notwithstanding section 5, the parent of a child who is attending a primary school listed in the Schedule may either—

(a) admit their child into year 7 of that primary school, or enrol their child in year 1 of a middle school pursuant to section 55 of the principal Act;

(b) admit their child into year 8 of that primary school, or enrol their child in year 2 of a middle school pursuant to section 55 of the principal Act.

(2) For the purposes of section 55 of the principal Act, a child who has been admitted into year 7 of a primary school listed in the Schedule, or year 8 as the case may be, shall be deemed not to have completed primary school education.

7. Minister may make Rules

(1) In addition to the matters for which the Minister may make Rules under the principal Act, the Minister may also make Rules under this Act in respect of the primary schools listed in the Schedule, provided such Rules are made with the aim of giving effect to the reforms and that the Minister takes account of and is guided by the provisions of the principal Act.

(2) Rules made under subsection (1) are subject to the negative resolution procedure.

8. Completion of reforms

(1) Where reforms have been implemented in respect of a primary school and the Minister has determined that the reforms have been sufficiently completed, he shall by Order amend the Schedule by deleting the name of that school from that Schedule.

(2) Orders made under subsection (1) are subject to the negative resolution procedure.

EDUCATION (PRIMARY SCHOOLS) TEMPORARY ACT 2023

PART III — Supplementary Provisions and Consequential Amendments

Application of subsequent amending Acts

9 Any statutory provision that amends the Education Act 1996 does not apply to this Act, unless the statutory provision specifically provides that the amendment applies to this Act.

10. Consequential amendments

(1) The Education Act 1996 is amended by inserting the following after section 1—

“Application of Act in relation to public education reforms

1A On the date of publication of an Order under section 8 of the Education (Primary Schools) Temporary Act 2023, this Act and Rules made thereunder operate in respect of the primary school specified in that Order and shall accordingly be read and applied with the necessary modifications.”.

(2) Section 6 of the Education Act 1996 is amended—

(a) by numbering the provision as subsection (1);

(b) by inserting subsection (2) as follows—

“(2) Where educational and school recreational facilities have been made available pursuant to subsection (1), the Minister may from time to time, by Order subject to the negative resolution procedure, close schools as he considers appropriate where the need of such facilities no longer exists.”.

Commencement

11 This Act comes into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by notice published in the Gazette.

EDUCATION (PRIMARY SCHOOLS) TEMPORARY ACT 2023

SCHEDULE

(section 5)

PRIMARY SCHOOLS TRANSITIONING TO PARISH PRIMARY SCHOOLS

(a) Francis Patton Primary School

(b) Purvis Primary School

(c) Dalton E. Tucker Primary School

(d) East End Primary School

(e) Elliot Primary School

(f) Harrington Sound Primary School

(g) Paget Primary School

(h) St. David’s Primary School

(i) Victor Scott Primary School

(j) West End Primary School

(k) West Pembroke Primary School [Schedule amended by BR 117 / 2024 para. 2 effective 12 November 2024]

[Assent Date: 08 March 2023]

[Operative Date: 17 March 2023]

[Amended by: BR 117 / 2024]