St James students, parents eager for new school year
Published:Tuesday | September 3, 2024 | 12:07 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Several enthusiastic students, many accompanied by their parents, were out early on Monday morning for the start of the 2024-2025 school year in rural St James. Some stood outside the gates of their schools for more than an hour, awaiting the doors and gates to open at 8:30 a.m.
At Sudbury Primary School in Orange district, one student milled about outside the school gate from as early as 7:15 a.m., until he was later joined by two teachers and another student.
“It is 8:30 he is to come, but it is because his parents are going to work and they dropped him off. [That’s] why he is so early,” one of the teachers told The Gleaner.
At the Adelphi Primary School, several students and their parents were also out quite early.
“We left out early because of the issue with the bus on the road. It is better you reach early than late, because sometimes you come out and the bus is so [full],” said Winsome Campbell, the guardian of a grade six student. “School does not start until 8:30, so that is why you do not see more teachers and kids here, and even the school doors are not open as yet.”
Getting transportation was a major challenge for Winsome Anderson, a resident of Adelphi, who was waiting at the community square up to 7:45 a.m. for a ride to take her grandson to his first day of school at the Goodwill Primary School some four districts away.
“The one problem I have is that the drives are hard to get to go up to Goodwill ... . It is now quarter to 8, and drive is not here as yet,” Anderson lamented.
DOING GREAT
Over at the Dumfries Primary School, which is near the St James-Trelawny border, Principal Joan Williams-Montague said construction work on a new classroom block is now completed.
“We are doing great. Right now, we are having prayers for the students, parents, and all stakeholders, since we normally have an annual service to present the children before the Lord. The work that was being done at the school is finished, so everything is back to normal and we are good to go,” said Williams-Montague.
Meanwhile, students of the Bethtephil Basic School in Chatham, St James, were seen arriving in small groups of twos and threes with their parents and guardians, shortly after 8:30 a.m. for the 8:45 a.m. start of the day’s activities.
Dr Michelle Pinnock, the regional director of the Ministry of Education’s Region Four, which covers St James, Hanover, and Westmoreland, told The Gleaner that some schools will start classes on a phased basis this week due to ongoing restoration works.
“Barracks Road Primary School in St James still has some work to do on their roof, and so they will have a standard approach where they will have grades one, two, five and six coming in on Monday, and on Tuesday, the other sets of classes will come, and then, on Wednesday, we should have everybody come out,” said Pinnock. “Claremont Primary School in Hanover will be housing two of its classes in the Methodist church hall, which is beside the school.”