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| PROFILE OF SCHOOL The Spring Garden Primary School is located Central St Thomas veering west, 8km North of Morant Bay. The school opened its doors in September 1968 with an enrollment of 280 students. It is located in a deep rural farming community. The workforce is made up of mostly artisan, farmers, and a few skilled and technical workers. A greater source of improvement or light is the vibrant citizens association, now thirteen (13) years old, trying to guide the citizens into cohesion, collaboration and development. For the past two years it now operates under the umbrella organization of the Community Development Committee (CDC). There is therefore this aura for progress, cooperation, security and development; hence, there is much hope for the future of which the school is one organization to guide this process of development and advancement. The school sits on two and a half (2 ½) acres of land. It is stuck to the North Eastern side of the land and a lovely playfield at the entrance overlooking the Caribbean Sea; this along with the beautiful landscape is a real visual aid for teaching Social Studies. The building is divided into two sections; the Administrative block, and the Classroom block. The classroom block has the capacity to accommodate three hundred (300), it currently has 115 students enrolled; this is largely due to internal migration to other schools nearby. The decline of the school population led to the conversion of a classroom into a library. There are six Grades (Grades 1 to 6), each Grade has its own room with the exception of Grades 5 and 6, as both share one room. The Administrative block is broken down as follows; The Principal’s office, which was recently tiled ( tiles donated by friends at Life of Jamaica and tiling done voluntarily by a past student); a make shift rest room (sick bay) located to the south side of the office; a general purpose room which is now being used as a computer lab; a one-seat water closet which was created some twenty (20) years ago to accommodate both male and female staff and a canteen (storage room included, although much is needed to upgrade this facility to meet modern standards). Students are provided with a subsidized lunch (bun/bulla/rock cake and milk/bag drink) from Nutrition Products Ltd at a cost of $0.20; or Cooked lunch that is also subsidized by the Ministry of Education through their school feeding programme at a cost of $30.00. The Sanitary convenience is of a primitive form (pit toilet), although it doesn’t affect our surrounding adversely- being on limestone soil, the authorities now need to provide water closet as there is adequate water supply at the school. The school also has a reserve tank to store water in cases of shortages. The school operates under the watchful eye of the School Board, which comprises of six members. The positions held are; Chairman, Vice Chairman, School Principal, PTA Rep., Community Rep., and Staff Rep. The principal reports directly to the Board. The staff comprises of the Principal, four teachers (one, a senior teacher), one community worker (teacher’s aide) and one ancillary worker. Our school is classified as a multi-grade school; resulting from our teacher/student ratio, which is 1:23 including principal and 1:29 excluding principal as opposed to that required by the Ministry of 1:35, each class is not priviledged to have its own teacher; hence grades 5 and 6 are combined as one class. The Revised Primary Curriculum is the guide used by the teachers in their content delivery. Subjects are integrated at Grades 1-3, and are subject based at Grades 4-6. The curriculum is so designed in that - it allows teacher to be creative and flexible; - it caters to the unique needs of students. - It facilitates the use of alternative methods of assessing students; - students are also given the privilege to take an active role in their learning; - it provides a wide array of activities from which teachers can tailor or copy. Our school is the only school in Region 2 that was selected to pilot a project using Instructional Technology as an aid in the teaching/learning process. We were given one (1) laptop, four (4) computers, ten (10) alpha smarts and four (4) trolleys, to transport the computers from class to class. This project is being used to assess areas such as: attendance, literacy and students’ overall improvement. Thus far, the students are intrigued and excited to use the computers and there are those students who come at least half an hour before the commencement of school, simply to use the computers. The students are expected to adhere to all rules and guidelines laid out by the School, paying specific attention to dress, responsibility to do all class and home assignments, social graces and deportment. Getting students to abide by these rules is a struggle as most students are left unattended to do as they please when they are at home. The Community Development Committee (CDC) in collaboration with the School hosted a series of workshop geared at addressing this concern, enlightening these parents on the need to be educated and the opportunities available to them. This has been met with mixed reactions as persons seem to be comfortable in the manner they currently are. The staff has the responsibility to carry out their duties professionally in an efficient and effective manner, in so doing working in order to achieve the vision and mission of the organization. They are encouraged to be pro-active, innovative, initiators and ideal role models for the students. These are reinforced through continuous professional development workshops, teacher appraisal (individual and group), and occasionally the use on memorandums. Teachers create a conducive, learner friendly environment, as even though the aesthetics are important, academics need to take priority. Students are assessed continuously in the form of pen and paper tests, quizzes, portfolios, research and oral presentations, to name a few. This is done to afford students the opportunity to excel in the method of assessment used that would equally reflect his/her true potential. There are four standardized tests administered by the Ministry of Education, Student Assessment Unit; v Grade 1 The Readiness Inventory Test v Grade 3 The Diagnostic Test v Grade 4 The Literacy Test and v Grade 6 The Grade Six Achievement Test Students tend to gravitate to the athletics and aesthetics, and genuine interest is shown there. Hence participation and improvement in the academics is paired with these interests. This forces the student to pay more than the usual attention to class work.
The Principal, as administrator, has the role: - of ensuring that the mission and vision of the institution are placed as priority when planning programmes geared towards the overall development of the school. - of keeping all records (financial et al) updated and have them available for inspection by the necessary authorities; - to deploy staff and assign duties - report to the Board and Ministry Officials The principal considers the needs of the students in the overall improvement of performance as priority, and hence looks to the wider community for assistance. It is our firm belief that it takes a community to build a child, and based on this premise we have looked at programmes targeted at building a stronger relationship with the community, especially those who are influential and more mature; namely the churches, the citizen’s association, the CDC and the youth group. Initiatives that are being considered as stated by the school’s development plan include; - Increasing the school’s population, this will be achieved by lifting the overall performance of the school - Restoring a culture that is dormant through the aesthetics, athletics and the academics - Establishing a mentoring programme for the students using mentors from the community and past students’ association - Improving the literacy level, so that all children leaving the school will be reading at the grade 4 level at least - Improved attendance – aiming at 100% each school day - Utilizing alternative professional development models to train and equip staff into being more effective and efficient This school as a social organization and by its interactive nature is poised to achieve its objectives. |
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