One of the early and long-serving Anguillian educators, Teacher Roslyn Pond, now back on the island on holiday, is delighted over the forty years she taught in Anguilla and the lasting benefit it has been to her former students.
The Anguillian found Teacher Roslyn at St Mary’s Anglican Parish Church on Sunday, July 27, where she was happy to say that, among her pupils, was the Rt Rev Errol Brooks, now Bishop of the Diocese of the North-Eastern Caribbean and Aruba.
“For the past twenty-two years, I was in Maryland, United States, but I come home fairly often as I did last year,” she told the newspaper. “I was looking at my grandchildren in Maryland, but we have now moved to Pennsylvania. We moved because my daughter, Verlyn, a Medical Doctor, did a course in Bariatrics (the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention and treatment of obesity) and she accepted a post there and is doing very well in her new position.”
Asked to reflect on her teaching career in Anguilla, Mrs Pond recalled: “I started at the Valley Girls’ School; then continued at The Valley Boys’ School; and when both schools were amalgamated, I served at Valley Primary. I was transferred to the Island Harbour Primary School for five years. I had one year in the Education Department when they were thinking about Early Childhood Education. My last two years were at the West End Primary School.”
Mrs Pond also served at St Mary’s Pre-School where she laid the foundation for what is now a new, expanded and most successful early childhood education centre – with the largest roll of pre-schoolers under the leadership of Mrs Hazel Brooks.
“I worked for forty years in the Education Department and after I retired they started the pre-schools so I was asked to head St Mary’s Pre-School. I was there for ten years,” she further recalled.
Asked to compare education services in Anguilla then and now, Mrs Pond replied: “In those days it was really rough. We had one classroom [per school] and there were so many pupils; but, nowadays, each school has various classrooms and so many more facilities to work with. Nowadays, the schools are in a far better position than they were in those early days.”
The former Anguillian educator was pleased to refer to some of her past students. “The Bishop here passed through my hands; and just a few days ago, they had a little get-together for me with some past students – and in that little group we had three lawyers; and other persons who work in banks as well as others serving as secretaries. It is a satisfying feeling to know that I helped in some small way.”
Mrs Pond’s daughter, Dr Verlyn Warrington, is married and has three girls – and their mother and grandmother will be returning to them in Pennsylvania after the August holidays.
