Students at Garvin Tynes Primary School on their first day in classes in three weeks after the passage of Hurricane Matthew. School principal Carolyn Wright-Mitchell said the school will roll out a five-point plan on top of the Ministry of Education's mandate to help students catch up on the material lost in the unexpected break to ensure their students continue to live up to the standard of excellence the school is known for. (Photo: Carolyn Wright-Mitchell)
While the Ministry of Education has extended the fall semester by one week to allow teachers to try to catch students up on the material lost in the three-week closure of schools due to Hurricane Matthew, the administration at Garvin Tynes Primary School is looking to go above and beyond to ensure that their students do just that. The school's administration is expecting to roll out a five-point plan of their own to complement the education ministry's mandate to ensure that students make up for the unexpected lost time.
School principal Carolyn Wright-Mitchell said at Garvin Tynes Primary School they have set a standard of excellence to live up to. Even though students were out of school unexpectedly for three weeks, she said the school's administration has come up with a plan that goes beyond the recommendations by the education ministry to ensure their students continue to excel.
The education ministry has mandated that schools keep children in classes a little longer before closing for winter break. Schools this year will close on December 21 instead of December 14 giving schools an extra week to try to makeup on the time lost.
In Garvin Tynes' five-point plan which is expected to be implemented by the end of the week, they will offer morning classes between 8:15 and 8:45 on weekdays for students; afternoon classes between 3:15 and 4 p.m. on weekdays; Saturday classes between 9 a.m. and 12 noon specifically for students in third and sixth grade who will be sitting the national Grade Level Assessment Test (GLAT), extra homework assignments, and additional makeup worksheets.
"We've lost a lot of time and opportunity to teach numerous skills, and the teachers are happy to be able to do this," said Wright-Mitchell of the plan.
"A student can lose a lot in a three-week break. For example, for the first grade students, if they were working on telling sentences, and they needed to be on asking sentences, now we have to work on telling and asking sentences."
In trying to make up the time lost, the principal said she wants her students to take it one day at a time, but to buckle down and work hard and smart at the same time.
"Even though we are concerned about making up and how we're going to make up for the days, it's very difficult to make up for lost days, but we are concerned that our students take one day at a time. In taking it one day at a time, we want them to maximize their potential to do their very best -- so there's no clowning around and no time to play. I know in the educational process there is time for play, but right now we have to buckle down and begin to work hard, but at the same time smart, so we want them to push very hard. We want them to maximize and we want them to be engaged in their reading and their writing. Even when they go home, we want to encourage them to take a break, then get their homework done, review their notes, study spelling words and be ready to start again the next morning."
None of the extra class sessions that Garvin Tynes School is putting on are mandatory. Student participation will be totally at the discretion of parents. Wright-Mitchell said that the teachers also cannot be committed to hold extra classes either, but she said many of them are willing to come on board with the school's initiative because they are invested in their students' success.
The Saturday morning classes will run through the end of November and will focus strictly on language, literacy and numeracy to give third and sixth grade students the extra help they may need as they prepare to sit their national exam.
Wright-Mitchell said the Saturday classes would afford students the opportunity to sharpen their skills in terms of creative writing and written composition. And that they will get to participate in workshops where they can learn the steps in the writing process, or how to write a descriptive paragraph or an essay, or different styles of writing.
"They will get insight and tips on how to develop their paragraphs or their essays and they will have an opportunity to write on that, and have more reading comprehension. We will roll out listening comprehension, social studies and science worksheets that they can work through with their teachers," she said.
The principal said they were in the process of identifying teachers who would be willing to put in the extra time on Saturdays. A parent teacher association (PTA) meeting is scheduled for Thursday to inform parents of what would happen going forward.
Students in grades one, two, four and five she said would be accommodated during morning and afternoon classes if a parent feels their child needs the extra help.
"If parents feel their child needs the extra help, we have the teachers who are willing to put in the time," she said.
The school's five-point plan to ensure that their students get caught up despite the unforeseen three-week break was something the administration and teachers came up with in the days immediately after the passage of the storm. They took the idea into a meeting with Lionel Sands, the director of education on Monday.
"We will work with the director of education, but we feel we can do a little more here at Garvin Tynes and we want to do that. The teachers want to catch up, and parents asked about it, so we will continue to work until we feel we are comfortable that our students are caught up and mastering the skills," she said. "Garvin Tynes has a brand, and that brand is excellence and we want to maintain that. We want to be able to know that we've provided quality teaching in this short time that we have."
Excited to be back in school yesterday, Wright-Mitchell said during the three weeks, she and her staff had been very concerned that her children were out for so long, especially as the new school year was still so new.
"There is so much to be covered, and we were losing time, and we were very concerned about that."
During the unexpected break she said they encouraged parents to work with their children at home, so that once the Ministry of Education gave the all clear for students to return to school that they would be ready to go.
Wright-Mitchell stood at the gate yesterday, greeting students as they returned. During a brief assembly to speak to students and at which they were prayed for by Pastor Phalmon Ferguson of United Faith Ministries International, the church that had adopted the school.
Conscious of time on the first day back the students were quickly gotten back into their class routines, but teachers took the time to engage the students in conversation about what they went through.
"As I walked through the classes this morning teachers were asking them about what happened to them during the hurricane, and the effects of the hurricane. Just about every class was having active discussion about Hurricane Matthew, and some had opportunity to write about it," said Wright-Mitchell.
There are 1,059 students enrolled in Garvin Tynes Primary this year. There are 42 teachers.
Wright-Mitchell said at Garvin Tynes they had some damages, but that the damage wasn't major. She said once they were able to get up and running, especially after the yard was cleared that they were ready to go.
After closing a week later than usual for winter break, Garvin Tynes will reopen on January 9, 2017. Professional day for teachers will be held January 3-5, 2017; and that national report card day will be held January 6, 2017.
Tenth and 12th grade students at Government High School are expected to report to school on Monday, October 31 with 11th and 12th grade students scheduled to report on Tuesday, November 1.
Students at Bartlett Hill Primary School in Grand Bahama are expected to return to school on Monday, October 31.
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