Educators at Effortville Primary School in Clarendon regard the institution as a trendsetter, moulding ‘STARS’ bent on improving themselves, parents and a community plagued by social ills and gang warfare.
A trendsetter, they said, because Effortville Primary is the only school in Jamaica – or Clarendon, at least – that offers the cultural and performing arts as a subject from grades one to six.
The school touts the students’ accomplishments at the recently concluded Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s (JCDC) National Festival of the Performing Arts as proof that the initiative, implemented two years ago, is making a difference.
The students secured four National Awards and 26 medals – 15 of them gold – at the parish level, for their mastery of the performing arts, infusing culture and pride as they represented their often volatile community.
Now, the school administration believes it has found a formula that the Ministry of Education and Youth as well as other schools can emulate in an effort to bolster Jamaica’s academic offerings and reignite national pride among the youngsters.
“This is something that we want the Government to embrace. This is something we love and have tried really hard to have our performing arts be a staple here at Effortville,” Vice Principal Kameika Clayton-Johnson told The Sunday Gleaner on Thursday.
“This is not something that we want to gate-keep. We see the benefit of it here at Effortville, and we would want all primary schools to see the benefits. We are happy that we are the unofficial pilot, but we want all schools to see and benefit from what we are doing.”
“Those in authority need to realise and recognise that if we are going to keep tourism alive as our major earner, we have to ensure that the children who are coming up are ready for that,” interjected Principal Lisa Holmes Shirley. “So we need the performance arts in the primary schools. That way the students can be ready for this service industry. We have to recognise that it starts from now.”
She added, “If we can get the children ready from this stage and also have a high school that is going to be a performing arts high school – because some of the high schools are not willing to spend the money – then we would be well on our way. I realise that with some high schools, they might do the theatre arts in CXC, but the children don’t really get into it until fourth or fifth form.”
According to the administrators, the performing arts classes and clubs form part of a holistic child programme at Effortville Primary. The initiative combines reading intervention, performing arts, and the School Wide Positive Behaviour support programme to make children more rounded.
This year the programme is being executed under the theme ‘Together we BUILD – Believe Unity Ignites a Lasting Difference’. It’s all part of an effort to create students who are STARS – Smart, Trustworthy, Ambitious, Respectful and Safe.
Performing arts teacher Alex Mitchell, who graduated from teachers’ college and started teaching in January last year, said unlike some of his peers, he has no desire to migrate overseas.
“I want to give the students an opportunity that I didn’t have at high school. In my time there was no real programme to express myself like that. And so leaving Jamaica is not in my books because I want to show the students that the performing arts is something that can turn into a profession,” Mitchell shared with The Sunday Gleaner, adding that he found students at Effortville Primary to be natural storytellers.
“In fact, Jamaicans are natural storytellers, there is always something about us. If we can unearth that at a very tender age in the primary schools, we can turn it into something beautiful, and also help to preserve our culture. We can keep the culture alive and create more like the great Louise Bennett-Coverley,” he said.
“I have always loved the arts but there was no platform for me when I was going to school, so I want to create that for these children.”
In the meantime, guidance counsellor at Effortville Primary, Brianna Williams, praised the performing arts programme for its ability to help create a safe space for the students, many of whom suffer harsh social realities at home. She would like to see more support from parents, however.
“One of the main challenges is the lack of support by family members and parents. Some of our children are without fathers, and their mothers have schedules that many times don’t align with when the students come to school, so they come very disorganised and their uniform is unkempt and unclean,” explained Williams, noting that as guidance counsellor she tries her best to remedy situations whenever she can.
She added, “I applaud the parents who wholeheartedly work with the school and put everything out there for them, but you have those parents who don’t support their child at all. Sometimes, because they don’t have the money they give up, and that is reflected in the child. No matter the circumstances, I want to encourage all our parents to reach out because the school community is like a partnership.”
In recent years, violence has been at a lull in the Effortville community, a welcomed reality for the school community. Still, the institution is concerned about some of its unsupervised students, who, in the absence of their parents, take the opportunity to roam free in the area.