Education
School’s Water Sales Double
This June was the hottest on record
Peel’s QEII High School sold twice as many bottles of water in the week after TT this year as it did last year.
This June was the hottest on record as average temperatures reached 19.9c and Tynwald recently heard of fountains in the island’s schools being broken.
The figures have been released after a question from Jason Moorhouse (Arbory, Castletown and Malew). He asked an identical question last year, which showed that St Ninian’s High School sold more than double the amount of bottled water in the week after TT22 than it did in 2018 or 2019.
QEII appears to have gone on better and doubled its water sales in just one year. In 2022, the school sold 567 bottles of water that week, which continued a trend of a decrease from 863 in 2018.
However this year, also in the week after TT, the school sold 1,272 bottles of water, with 417 bottles of plain water and 855 bottles of flavoured water being sold.
The school wasn’t the only one to see a rise, as all of the schools which figures were provided for saw an increase.
Ballakermeen rose from 2,534 bottles to 2,822, SNHS went from 1,694 to 2,420 and Castle Rushen went from CRHS 791 bottles to 1,227. For some reason, apparently to do with the summer holidays, RGS hasn’t provided figures for this year.
Broken Fountains
During the July sitting of Tynwald, Education Minister Julie Edge said that drinking water was ‘freely available’ However, Michelle Haywood (Rushen) told the Court: ‘Many water fountains are broken. We heard yesterday from Castle Rushen High School, there is no actual water available in the dining hall and there is only one water fountain working. So I wonder if she would undertake to sort that situation out over the summer while she has got time to get workmen in there and get these fixed.’
That ‘yesterday’ Dr Haywood was referencing Junior Tynwald where students from the island’s high schools noted that their schools didn’t have easy access to water and that fountains were broken.
In “adult Tynwald” (you do wonder sometimes), Ms Edge replied: ‘Water is available in jugs in our schools, or should be available. If any Hon. Member has any concerns like that, please do not hesitate to let me know. However, water fountains will now be the responsibility of our Chief Minister as acting Minister for the Department of Infrastructure. So I am happy to work with him over the summer and see what we can do within that area.’
