The Department of Education held a befitting ceremony to welcome back its teachers to school, last Friday. With that, schools on the island reopened of Monday, 5th September. The Anguillian paid a visit to all public schools to get the views of the Principals in terms of their hopes and aspirations for the new school year.
Vivien Vanterpool Primary
The first school we visited was the Vivien Vanterpool Primary in Island Harbour. This school is dubbed the Home of the Green Gathers, and the students in their green uniforms appeared to be as fresh and new as the school year itself.
In speaking to Principal, Mrs. Mavis Fleming-Webster, she said: “I am happy to be alive and proud to be an educator and the Principal of this school. The Vivien Vanterpool Primary School has come a long way. We are a small school that endeavours to provide the best educational service to our community.
“This year we really want to enhance the quality of our academics. We are focusing on English and Mathematics. We have specialist coaching teachers in both areas who run special workshops for the students. They will meet the students at the point of their needs and develop them to be proficient particularly in Mathematics and English.”
“Here at Vivien Vanterpool Primary,” she said, “my teachers work hard and we are like a family. There is a real bond between us, and we endeavour to maintain this bond with the aim of serving our students with the best educational experience possible.”
Morris Vanterpool Primary
We then moved over to East End at the Morris Vanterpool Primary School, the Home of the Red Dragons. There we greeted the Principal, Ms. Shauna Connor, and her Deputy, Ms. Ayisha Bellot. The students had just changed into a new style of uniform for the new school year. Ms. Connor expressed her pride over the new attire saying: “Our new uniform was realised as a result of a dedicated community effort. I wish to express my gratitude to the parents and members of the East End community for their zeal in raising funds to purchase the students’ new uniform.”
Then, in describing her goals for the current school year, she said: “This year I am looking forward to hard work. Our focus will be on the area of Reading. We have what we call a ‘Reading Buddies’ programme where each child will take home a book to read each day and report on their reading experience the following day. It is our goal to have every child reading proficiently at his or her level.”
“We will be focusing on Mathematics as well,” she said, “and we are hoping to get the parents involved so that they can help to guide their children in their Math projects. We really want the parents to partner with us more meaningfully for the development of their children this year.”
Orealia Kelly Primary
At the Orealia Kelly Primary School, the Home of the Pink Panthers in Stoney Ground, we met with Principal Marcia Brooks. She said: “We are indeed happy to be back to school again, under almost normal conditions. Technology has afforded us a new tool which is used by our teachers in each of our classes. This is the new promethean board which has replaced the old white board or blackboard.
“Quite a lot has been invested in this new venture of learning through the use of this board. It is well in line with 21st century innovations for teaching and learning, and it is our goal to have all our teachers and students embrace it for the improvement of their educational experiences.
Additionally, we look forward to maintaining a good interpersonal working relationship with our teachers, students, parents and the community at large.”
The Valley Primary
Next, we visited The Valley Primary School, the Home of the Golden Horses. The Principal there is Ms. Trisha Richardson. She said: “It is with great joy that we welcome back our Golden Horses for the new school year, 2022 – 2023. The staff and I are filled with much enthusiasm to begin what we foresee as another successful year. Over the previous school year, we have seen the goodness of God.
Trisha Richardson
“Our goals are to continue to improve collaboration within the school, complete our School Evaluation programme conducted by Anguilla Community College, strengthen our community relationship, and enhance academic performance.
“In addition, we want to humbly express our gratitude to The Valley Community for its invaluable support. Special thanks to Pastor David Christmas who faithfully visits the school to share the word of God, every Friday, with all students. We look forward to maximising our collaboration.”
Adrian T. Hazell Primary
At the Adrian T. Hazel Primary School, in South Hill, the Home of the Rams, we were greeted by the Principal, Ms. Tiffany Thomas. She too was happy that they could return to school under virtually normal conditions: “As we commence the new school year we are enthusiastic and hopeful that we would continue to have a normal year,” she said. “This is our prayer. We thank God for bringing us safely through the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“All of our teachers are excited to be here. They are prepared, and they are energetic to perform their teaching efforts at the best of their abilities. Our students have also returned with a renewed purpose and for that we are happy.
“Going forward, we will be focusing on bringing our students up to par with their academic standards. It has been a challenge for the students over the past two years, but our aim this year is to aggressively upgrade our students academically. We also want to engage them is sporting activities which they missed during the two years of the pandemic.”
Alwyn Allison-Richardson Primary
In West End, the Alwyn Allison-Richardson Primary School is dubbed the Home of the Grey Wolves. There we met with the Principal, Mrs. Electra Buddle. She said:
“During my first year as Principal here, I was faced with several challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic which placed a number of limitations on the interaction with the students, parents and the community.
Electra Buddle
“Thank God this year is different. My main objective this year is to implement simple but interesting and exciting projects that will help students to improve academically and socially. One of my goals is to see an improvement in our reading and Math scores. It is my goal that by the time every child reaches grade 6 they are reading at, or above, their age capacity before they enter the secondary school.”
“In order to achieve this,” she stressed, “a library will be established to create a sense of excitement, interest and self confidence in the students’ ability to sit and read aloud – and to be able to share with others stories that they have read and enjoyed.”
Mrs. Buddle added: “It is also my goal to reignite an active PTA – and encourage more community involvement in the life of the school.”
Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive
Finally, we visited with Mrs. Rita Celestin-Carty, Principal of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School. She was extremely excited about returning to school: “This is our sixth year post Hurricane Irma,” she said. “Yesterday, 6th September, was a memorable day of that storm’s anniversary. Since Hurricane Irma, we have been operating under our current circumstances with the shift system of classes.
Rita Celestin-Carty
“We were happy to welcome back Forms 1 to 5 on the 5th of September. The second year students of Form 6 will be returning on Monday, 12th September, and new Form 6 students will initiate their first year by means of submitting a letter of application which we should receive no later than Friday, September 9th.
She continued: “Our first two days of school went very well. The various Heads of Year organised assemblies with various guest speakers, games and other motivational activities for the students. I am happy to say that all of the teachers worked hard to plan and execute their welcome back programmes for our students. The children participated well, and all of the students were very well behaved. We are hoping that that tone is set and will continue throughout the year.”
The Principal highlighted the importance of the schools VIBES programme for acceptable school behaviour. “These VIBES,” she said, “are the expectations of all members of the school community – students, teachers and parents. We would like all to ‘value learning’, to ‘be innovative’, to ‘be respectful’, to ‘be responsible’ and to ‘be resilient’. If everyone abides by these expectations, all would go well.”
