Teachers and students at The Valley Primary School are elated that twelve new classrooms are under construction at last, bringing an end to the long wait while other schools in the line-up have already moved forward.
Accounting for a roll of 400 students, The Valley Primary School has the largest attendance among the six public schools in Anguilla. Following the damage to some of its classroom buildings by Hurricane Irma in September 2017, and their consequent demolition, a number of students are being accommodated in the Old Boys’ School, and the Soroptimist Day Care Centre, thus disrupting the normal functioning of the school at one location.
The 300-odd foot two-storey classroom block, now at the foundation stage, is estimated to cost in the region of three million East Caribbean dollars. With such a concentration of classrooms, there will be 21 toilet facilities, an underground cistern, and a nearby water treatment plant. The work, like other projects, is being funded from the sixty million pounds provided by the UK Government to rebuild or renovate schools, and various other public sector buildings, which were severely damaged or compromised by Hurricane Irma in September 2017.
A ground-breaking ceremony for The VPS project was held on Monday, January 6 – the reopening day of schools on the island following the Christmas holidays. The event, attended by students, teachers, officials from the Governor’s Office, the Ministry and Department of Education, was chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Education and Home Affairs, Mrs. Chanelle Petty-Barrett.
Acting Governor, Mr. Perin Bradley, spoke on behalf of Governor Tim Foy, OBE, who completed his vacation leave this week. Mr. Bradley expressed pleasure at seeing the start of the project – and commended officials of the Governor’s Office, working on the Anguilla Programme, for their work in bringing the project to its commencement in cooperation with other persons in the Ministries of Education and Infrastructure.
Minister of Education, Mrs. Cora Richardson Hodge, regretted the delay in constructing the classrooms which she explained was due to several factors. Among the delays was the discovery of a well at the building site and the need to change the location and design drawings. The need for procurement and the tendering process were other delaying factors.
The Minister continued: “We are very excited to be here at the ground-breaking ceremony for The Valley Primary School. As we know, after Hurricane Irma the school was significantly damaged – as well as many of other primary schools. We were able to secure funding from the sixty million pounds grant from the UK Government, and we were also able to prepare design plans for The Valley Primary School which would allow for an administrative block as well as a student block.
“We were very successful in obtaining those funds, and we thank the UK Government and the British taxpayers for access to those funds. We also thank the Ministry and Department of Education for their hard work in getting where we are today. The Valley School has had a number of setbacks which resulted in the excavation and construction taking place at this point in time. However, we are happy that we finally got at this point. We are happy about all the hard work – and we are very excited to get both the teachers and the students back into normal size classrooms so that they are able to conduct their work, and do their exams, without having as many issues as they have had in the past.”
The Minister of Education added: “We know that the children have done very well over the past couple of years since Hurricane Irma, and we want them to continue to do well. We are expecting that the construction will take a period of eleven to twelve months – and we are very happy indeed.”
The Principal of The Valley Primary School, Mr. Michael Skellekie, commented: “We are extremely grateful, and not just grateful, but happy, that our project has come to fruition at this time. This is because, after the hurricane, all we heard was the construction work would start ‘next month, next month, next month’ and our staff, even more than me, were quite unhappy with all the put-offs and cancellations of the project. At one point we were even considering complaining officially to the Government about all the delays. Eventually they came through for us.
“We are happy where we are now. I am also happy that the Ministry of Education decided on having the student block built as the first phase -because that is where the need is really for students and teachers to be housed, rather than the administrative and specialty rooms block, which is now the second phase.”
The project is being constructed by Mr. Michele L. Carty, of Bumba’s Construction, who was pleased to address the gathering. He estimated that the project will take one year to build. He explained that each of the twelve classrooms will measure 34×31 feet, providing ample space for the students and teachers.
