On Thursday June 11th, 2026, the Group Projects component of the Hello Tourist programme (HTP26) was judged. HTP26 is a special tourism awareness programme geared to Grade Six students aged 11-12 to foster greater understanding of the world of Tourism and Hospitality and the importance of the Environment to Tourism, and of the Service Experience to the guest.
Six schools participated, namely, VPS, OKPS, MVPS, VVPS, ATHPS and AARPS. Judging was carried out by a team of three judges from the Department of Education (DoE), and the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) in the persons of Mrs. Candis Niles, Tourism Education Coordinator; Mrs. Rita Celestine-Carty, Education Officer Human Resources; and Mrs. Nicola Webster, Programme Officer Community Outreach and Preparedness Education (COPE), DDM.
The judges ruled unanimously that Sixth place went to MVPS with a score of 228/300 ; fifth place went to AARPS with a score of 264/300 ; fourth place was awarded to VPS with a score of 268/300 points; The third place awardee was VVPS with a total score of 278/300; Second place was awarded to OKPS with a score of 281/300, and the first place honors were awarded to ATHPS with a score of 286/300 points.
While all the projects were deemed to be impressive and effective, one project stood out from the others. The winning project had a multi-pronged approach, which focused on beautification and enhancement of the School’s environment through Sustainability as a tool for encouraging positive behaviours and meaningful play through the regeneration of the existing playground which had been decimated by Hurricane Irma.
The students expressed their desire to create a space for the younger students which would encourage meaningful play, foster creativity and teach positive values through play. With a nod to the lessons they had learned about the importance of Sustainable practices and principles for the effective development of Tourism, the students made excellent use of old pallet boards and tires, as well as bottle caps, buckets and covers to create various life-sized models of games using items that had been repurposed for the project. A wide variety of kid-friendly games like Tic-Tac-Toe on a specially created tabletop fashioned from a piece of discarded wood and the metal frames of two broken chairs, expertly screwed together and carefully hand-painted by the students.
Another unique take on a traditional playground favorite was the creation of a Tour Bus and Bus Stop featuring the main Natural Sites the students had learned about in their session, “All About AXA”. The bus was fashioned from a sawed off Telephone Pole, painted in the National Colours, with repurposed, painted classroom chairs attached for the seats of the bus. The wheels of the bus complete with Mags were made from paint bucket covers. At the front of the bus is a shiny black steering wheel with a matching gearbox and at the front a realistic traffic light ensures the bus is always travelling at a secure speed.
Also incorporated into the playground was a number of childhood games that had been fashioned from scratch using repurposed materials like pallet boards, buckets, and bottles, all reflective of the principles of Sustainability. The students also ensured that their concern for the welfare of future generations of students was reflected in the rules of the Playground, as well as the inclusion of Message boards for the recording and sharing of Positive Vybes. The crowning achievement for the RePurposing Project was undoubtedly the Restoration of the Slide which was achieved through the use of pallet boards to form the scaffolding and ladder for the base and the hutch of the slide, to which the smooth metal slides were carefully attached using screws and an electric drill.
The entire Play area was enhanced by colourful yarn woven and crocheted to provide a Welcome message to the play area, and adding the beauty and colour of flowers to enhance the area’s harsh wire fencing.
The students demonstrated strong group dynamics in the presentation of their project, as they spoke knowledgeably and articulately about their creation, and demonstrated the playing of the games, even inviting the participation of the judges, and cheering enthusiastically as success was achieved – “or not”.
The judges were impressed by the level of creativity, skill and engagement and enthusiasm displayed by the students, and the level of enjoyment, ownership and knowledge that they displayed as they spoke with the judges about their project and some of the challenges they experienced in working to bring the project to fruition. Students also demonstrated sound knowledge of principles of Hospitality, as they offered demonstrations and the opportunity for the judges to share in their project.
The ATHPS must be especially commended for this wonderful achievement, as the School also earned the First Place Award in the Individual Project Component, the first time that the same school has achieved both Top Awards in the history of the Programme.
The group project aims to help students to focus, within the context of Tourism, on the protection, preservation and conservation of the natural environment as well as the importance of enhancing and beautifying their surroundings in meaningful and aesthetically-pleasing ways and highlights the importance of group dynamics in achieving common goals.
This year also saw the students reacting creatively to the Three R’s of Sustainability: “Reuse, Reduce, Recycle” to create effective and functional projects using what they have available in their hands. The students were also given the opportunity to verbally present their thoughts on the project process through their interactions with the judges. The judges were satisfied that there was evidence of these objectives having been met in all submissions. While there were three winners selected from among the six projects presented, the Judges were particularly impressed with the scope of the Project and its reflection of the Principles of Sustainable Farming as a response to the growing reality of Food Vulnerability through the marriage of traditional and innovative methods presented by OKPS through their effective revitalization and enhancement of the School’s Herbal Haven; with the Educative and Traditional Value of Community-based Tourism as presented by VVPS; with the Aesthetic Functionality of the Enhancement Project presented by MVPS, enhancing a forgotten corner at the back of the school with the school’s logo, complemented by a climate-friendly tire garden; the Sustainable and Mindful Value of the Golden Virtues Garden which uses play to promote positive values and creates a haven of peace and relaxation in a climate-friendly configuration of drought-resistant plants, which can also be used as an outdoor learning and teaching space as envisioned by the VPS; while the effective Transformation of a previously neglected area of the school’s landscape was effectively accomplished by AARPS as they used Art to transform aspects of the building for the benefit of students at play.
The DoE thanked the students for their hard work and enthusiastic response to the Group Projects, as Tourism Education Coordinator, Mrs. Candis Niles, took the opportunity to remind students that the lessons they had articulated as their key learning takeaways from the Group Projects – the importance of working together as a team, that each person brings something of value to the effort; that you can have fun and learn new things as you work together, that you can create strong bonds of friendship, that you should look out for each other and have each other’s back are all qualities that will stand them in good stead in the new phase of their educational journey as they transition to life in Campus B.
Members of the general public can visit the DoE’s Facebook page for more views and insights into the students’ Group Projects.
