and Mrs. Hyacinth Bradley
At the Government Press Conference on Monday, May 12th, 2025, the Honourable Minister of Education and Social Development, Mrs. Shellya Rogers-Webster, introduced three officers attached to her Ministry to shed light on what is being done between the home, the school, and the government in an effort to positively develop children.
The three officers were: Community Services Planner, Mrs. Hyacinth Bradley; Senior Programme Officer for Youth, Ms. Janelle Anthony; and Acting Chief Education Officer, and Education Officer for Student Support Services, Mrs. Tracelyn Hamilton.
Mrs. Hyacinth Bradley commented on her work of intervention, especially as it concerns interventions in the home. “In late 2022, we launched a family support programme called ‘Family First’,” she said. ‘“Family First’ focuses on and lends support to parents of deviant youth and community members. There are four pillars involved in this programme for a sustained approach to crime prevention – 1.Prevention and Diversion; 2. Intervention; 3. Interception and 4. Rehabilitation and Reintegration.”
She explained that ‘Family First’ is a national parenting and empowerment programme that seeks to strengthen family engagement and family support. “This programme is parent-centered,” she said. “We have come to realize that when criminal incidents occur involving young people, parents are blamed for their children’s actions. So it is important for us as a department to offer the necessary support to parents.”
With regard to skills and job-training for youngsters, Ms. Anthony said that the Department of Youth and Culture is looking at ways to create positive change in the outlook of the young people today. “We have programmes that seek to enable our youngsters to find meaningful jobs,” Ms. Anthony said. “We have the ‘Job Link-up’ programme by which we target and support vulnerable young people between the ages of 16 and 30.
“When we make mention of ‘vulnerable young people’, we refer to youngsters who are affected by drug abuse, persons who have left school before completing five years in high school, and persons who have had interactions with the justice system, etc.”
She noted that in the “Job Link-up” programme behavioural and career counseling is provided, as well as continued education and training, job-placement with a stipend, mentorship, and professional and personal development.
As it concerns negative behavioural patterns in school, Education Officer for Student Support Services, Mrs. Tracelyn Hamilton (Acting Chief Education Officer) said: “We interact with children who display behavioural issues from kindergarten level. We have a division called Student Support Services, and even from preschool age we are able to gauge … a child’s negative behaviour pattern as he or she enters into primary school. At this stage we administer support through our Special Education Needs Coordinators (SENCO) which is available at each school. Under this system we are able to monitor the quality of the child’s behaviour as well as their academic potential.”
Mrs. Hamilton said there is a team effort at the school which puts interventions in place. We have protocols and guidelines and we endeavour to intervene early. She said that SENCO will sit with the child and the parents as well as with the social worker – if one is assigned – and should they require further intervention and assistance they would resort to another arm of support by accessing … Mrs. Bradley’s ‘Family First’ programme.
