Chester Primary to benefit from proposed housing development
Published:Monday | April 11, 2022 | 12:08 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
Chester Primary and Infant School is benefiting from a multibillion-dollar housing development planned for that northwestern St Ann community by Wots Hot Energy, a London based construction company.
The school currently has 138 students enrolled and a team of eight teachers across both the primary and infant levels. With the $4.5-billion housing project slated for the property adjacent the institution, it is going to benefit the school.
“We understand that the two parts of building a community are, one, – the infrastructure, which is the physical development – the community Wi-Fi, the sewage treatment, the drainage, electricity supply, renewable energy– the other part is community welfare and community development for the people,” Wots Hot founder and CEO Craig Hartwell noted.
“So, education is a central part of that, and so it’s completely natural that we begin what we call the ‘Chester collaboration’ with Chester Primary School,” he added.
COMMITTED
Craig Hartwell last week handed over 120 copies of Dr Lola Ramocan’s book, Community Helpers, to school principal Nadine Gordon, and committed to undertake several tasks to improve the institution, including renovating several buildings, constructing a fence, and upgrading the playing field.
Gordon expressed delight at the donation and thanked Hartwell for his company’s commitment to do more to assist the school.
“For us, this donation is very important not only because it is the marker for other things to come, but because it comes at a time when we’re looking at behaviour modification,” she said.
She added: “Even though we are small and we are rural, there are issues that we have to contend with that are social in nature, and so we have been looking at our behaviour modification programme here. The Community Helpers book, that series, will fit very nicely in what we’re doing, and it comes at a time when we’re just restructuring. So it will be a major part of what we do because it teaches respect for others, and it also provides focus for the children in terms of their career.”
Gordon also underlined the importance of the school getting a fence in place.
“The perimeter fencing has been a challenge for many years,” she pointed out. “Successive principals have been working towards getting the fence up. There have been challenges along the way, especially to do with boundaries. We look forward to the fence. It will make the staff and students more secure.”
Gordon said the coming housing development could see an increase in the school population, and for that more classroom space would be needed.