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Marie Cole Memorial Primary students get new tablets

Launtia Cuff, Star Writer

Students at the Marie Cole Memorial Primary School in North East St Elizabeth were beside themselves with excitement as they received their new tablets courtesy of the tablets in school programme.

Of the 38 schools across the island that have been selected, Marie Cole is the first in Region 5 of the Ministry of Education to receive devices through the programme.

Implementation Supervisor for the programme, from E-learning Jamaica Company Limited, Dorothy Thompson, said that it was necessary to give the technology directly to the students as in some cases when they were given to the school students still do not have enough access.

This way she said, would better ensure an improvement in numeracy and literacy but to ensure that students were brought up to par with international students in terms of being able to access information using digital means.

Have access

“The Universal Service Fund provides Internet access to the schools and to the community so the community can have access to check their email, go online and be able to be involved in this digital world that we are in,” Thompson said.

Principal, Delmas Smith, said parents and teachers must monitor the students’ use of the tablets to ensure that they were being used for the primary purpose of learning.

Although the programme made provision for each registered student at the school to receive a tablet some students were not able to receive as parents or guardians did not show up to sign for the devices.

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Marie Cole Memorial Primary students get new tablets

Red hills primary benefits from Child Find initiative

Bjorn Burke, Staff Reporter

At the beginning of the school term in September, 20 students enrolled at the Red Hills Primary School in St Andrew are on track to benefit from the Ministry of Education’s special-education Child Find initiative, ensuring no child gets left behind in the task of learning.

In acknowledging that there are students at the school who face several challenges in the classroom, Red Hills Primary principal Lorna Hector shared with THE weekend STAR that the Child Find initiative to come on stream is graciously welcomed.

“We would like to improve the programmes offered. One main one is, come September, we hope to include a programme of special needs. We’re going to cater for special-needs children. Already, some children have been selected and tested by Child Find in collaboration with the Ministry of Education,” she explained. “We know that many children are not making it for different reasons, and one of the reasons is that some just might have learning challenges that the ordinary teacher would not be able to assist them within the way in which they should be.”

Hector further explained that the number of students selected for the Child Find initiative is expected to increase as time progresses.

The Child Find special-education policy, birthed out of the necessity to provide assistance to children with special needs, was spearheaded by the Ministry of Education, identifying students with undiagnosed and undetected challenges in schools islandwide.

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Red hills primary benefits from Child Find initiative

UPDATE: Police probing shooting death of "Shortman" at Tarrant Primary school

Wednesday, January 29, 2014 | 4:13 PM    

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Detectives from the Half Way Tree Police Station have commenced a probe into the circumstances surrounding the Wednesday morning shooting death of a man at Molynes Road, Kingston 10.

The man, identified as 36-year-old mechanic, Rohan Newman, otherwise called ‘Shortman’, of Dumbarton Avenue, Kingston 10, was shot and killed after he dropped off his children at the Tarrant Primary school. 

Information received is that about 8:10 am Newman reportedly went to drop off his children at school, when he was pounced upon by an unknown assailant, who opened gunfire hitting him. The Police were summoned and on their arrival, Newman was seen slumped over the steering wheel of his motor car with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

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UPDATE: Police probing shooting death of "Shortman" at Tarrant Primary school

Past students give back to Hillside Primary

ISLINGTON, St Mary — Hillside Primary School was abuzz with activity on Friday and yesterday, as residents of the Islington community turned out in large numbers to support a venture by past students to give the school a facelift.

Among the activities undertaken were painting, cutting lawns and cleaning drains.Acting principal of the institution Phyllis Williams-Miller was excited about the support that the school got, ahead of the start of the new school year.“The initiative is great. I am totally in for it and appreciative of the services. Hillside Primary School has many, many past students. For the past students to come in and to assist, it is a great move, a grand initiative. I am excited about it because it means that something is happening at Hillside,” Miller told the Jamaica Observer.Miller said students at the school have excelled over the years and so the much-needed assistance is expected to boost the students’ performance even more.“We aim to improve our literacy rates in keeping with the ministry’s standards. We always aim for 100 per cent,” she stated, adding that all her teachers held degrees, as the school tries to give the students the best.While the teachers are all highly-trained, Miller said that a facelift to the property will serve to enhance the learning experience.“I think it will enhance the whole ethos of the school, the morale, students will tend to feel better seeing the school bright, and we hope that it will go over to them; it will have that spillover effect and they, too, will feel that resilience come September morning,” she said.Miller explained that the past students were working assiduously to enhance the learning experience of the students at the school.“They are stepping up and pulling in, truly,” she stated.The Hillside Primary Alumni Association, United States of America Chapter, led the activities over the weekend.President of the association Glenford Nugent said that it was a pleasure for the members of the association to be giving back to the school, which will enhance the development of the community.“We did a fund-raiser in New York and so most of the funding comes from past students,” he stated.“We don’t do this to get praise but because we see it worth doing. We intend to get this bigger. What we are doing is to adopt the school,” he added.“This endeavour makes my heart feel good because this is where we all started out,” Nugent said.But it is not only about giving the school a facelift.Past student Cedric Davis, who is the initiator of the formation of the alumni association, piloted a project which saw the school receiving several computers last year.Davis, who operates the K and J diner in Pennsylvania, USA, said that the association was formed in the US after several past students came to a picnic that he hosts yearly and the decision was made to give back to the school, which has produced many outstanding members of the society.He explained that the past students intend to do even more for the institution and the wider community and there are now plans in place to host a fun day in the community next year.Davis, who has been living overseas for 26 years, said: “I just feel that I should come back and give back something to my school and my community so that’s what I am working on.”“The Government should be doing some things, but we can’t sit and wait on them. The ministry has many schools and so if we can do something, then let us do it for the people,” he stated.Davis said that he is now hoping that other past students will come on board to develop the community and the school.“We want to get in some of the past students who can help. So the people out there who can help, we would like to see them come so we can get this thing to another level,” Davis said.Williams-Miller said that several past students were working to have the computer lab fully functional with Internet access, and for the computers to be used in the learning process.“The only thing missing now is a multimedia projector,” Miller, who is also a past student, told the Sunday Observer.Miller said that the institution intends to “have a rigorous literacy programme using the computers”.“I am really happy that the past students’ association has taken on the challenge to fix the school for back-to-school,” senior teacher at Hillside Primary, Sylvette Williams-Hinds, said.Acting Principal Phyllis Williams-Miller along with members of the Hillside Primary Alumni Association Cedric Davis (right) and Glenford Nugent.These men, all past students of the institution spruce up the school’s wall with paint. (PHOTOS: RENAE DIXON)Cleaning the drains was also part of the activities.

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Past students give back to Hillside Primary