St Catherine schools hopeful for successful year

School officials at some St Catherine-based institutions were upbeat as they welcomed students on Monday morning, hopeful for a successful new school year.

For some, the orientation exercises were still ongoing, or extended. At St John’s Primary School, it was a very busy morning with queues of parents and students outside the school’s office even after 8 a.m.

However, according to school principal Louise Clarke, who spoke to The Gleaner, the administration and teaching staff were well prepared for the crowd.

“It’s [been] a long morning, so, a lot of the parents are coming to the compound for the first time and want to meet the teachers. They are seeing teachers for the first time too if they did not come out last week and they just want to ensure that their children are comfortable, and we try to facilitate them,” she said.

Clarke said that Monday morning’s start would include an official civic ceremony, hoisting of the Jamaican flag and information sessions on the institution’s core values.

“So, today is a sensitisation day and for the rest of the week we will have the diagnostic assessments,” she said.This would include the administration of, for new students, the grade one individual learning profile (GOILP), a tool used by the education ministry to evaluate students’ social, cognitive and interpersonal skills, as well as their learning environment.

The students were also briefed on the positive behaviour intervention and support (SWPBIS) programme, spearheaded by the Ministry of Education and Youth.

Clarke said she anticipated the usual challenges for the upcoming school year, such as students arriving late to class due to transportation issues, psychosocial troubles, and factors that impact the children at home and manifest themselves at school.

She said that 85 per cent of the staff had been in school since August 22 for professional development training.

Over at Kinder Kampus Early Childhood Development Centre on Nugent Street in Spanish Town, students were welcomed for the first of a two-day orientation.

Principal Julie McIntosh, ‘Aunty Suzette’, said the school ensured that all new parents were able to view the facility in which their children would spend majority of their days on a weekly basis, while the emphasis was on encouraging familiarity for the young students.

“So, what we are trying to do is to get them comfortable and used to the environment,” she said.

She said enhanced sanitation measures had been adopted, including provision of a disinfecting mat at the entrance to most areas, and a sanitary station nicknamed ‘Charlie’.

Keisha Dennisur-Dennis, senior teacher and communication liaison at José Martí Technical High School, said that school would commence officially on Monday, September 12 after a week-long orientation for the various grades.

This year, an overall figure of 369 new students were registered for grade seven with approximately 15 transferred students entering other grades.

The school now has over 2,000 students and over 100 teachers, but Dennisur-Dennis said some specialist teaching posts, like mechanical engineering and electrical engineering, still needed to be filled.

“Already we are trying to see if we can enlist some of our retired teachers to come back and see if we could take them on a contractual basis to fill into these areas until we are able to get others,” she said.

Nonetheless, Dennisur-Dennis explained that she was pleased with the turnout on Monday.

“I’m really happy. I’m particularly excited because I see so many parents coming out with their children,” she said adding that, to her surprise, in some cases both parents were present for one student. This, she said, displayed the level of support for the children.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com