Mary Reid

We've been setting up links between ten primary schools each in Kingston Jamaica and Kingston upon Thames, and yesterday I had the chance to visit three of them over here.

All three schools are located in downtown Kingston, and are surrounded by the local issues of deprivation and sporadic violence. They provide safe disciplined environments for the children who were all very well behaved and smartly dressed.

St Peter Claver greeted me with songs and steel pans, and I met classes in grades 3 and 6 who are going to be most involved in the link. I was given several folders of letters, photos and drawings to bring home to their partner school, Knollmead, as well as a clock and Bob Marley  pen holder. (Bob Marley is a huge national icon here)



In a classroom at St Peter Claver

Then on to Denham Road which has 1100 pupils. Schools here receive only very basic funding which does not cover any non-teaching staff or additional resources. So all the schools have to charge fees, which cannot, of course, be high in poor areas. One way that schools are resourceful is by acquiring old trailers and containers which they then convert into additional teaching spaces. Denham does have two containers but as yet no funds to work on them.


The containers that could become science rooms

Then on to St Anne's which is linked with Fern Hill. They have a prizewinning dance group who gave us an energetic performance, followed by the Glee Club who entertained us with Creole songs. St Anne's has already made good use of its one computer and has produced a CD of videos, photos and writing for me to take back to Fern Hill.


The dancers at St Anne's

St Anne's has successfully turned a trailer into a literacy room looking very much like similar teaching spaces in the UK. Their central educational objective is to improve literacy and they want the link to contribute to that.

On the back of this project the US Aid programme, Expanding Horizons, has been working with the British Council to provide computer equipment and training to the teachers in the schools taking part. That in itself is a great outcome.

It was a fascinating morning. I was most impressed with the professionalism of the staff who are working in pretty challenging contexts. And I'm looking forward to delivering messages from the schools to their UK partners next week.


The reality beyond the school walls