Chief Education Officer should revisit shortsighted plan that has left St Margaret’s and Starters in cramped quarters and without recreational space

Dear Editor,

I am a past parent of St Margaret’s and Starters Nursery School from back in the 70’s when education was made free from nursery to university.

I’ve heard that Starters Nursery School has been temporarily relocated near or on St Philips’s Green and that this is because of the rebuilding of a ‘state of the art’ nursery school to take the place of the old

Starters’ building.

What has really concerned me is that this ‘state of the art’ nursery school will have no playground and no landscaped grounds to match this wonderful new building, so where will the children do what children do best play?

Could someone in Government, specifically in Education shed some light on why adequate playing space does not appear to have been considered a priority?

A visit to St Margaret’s school made it obvious to me that it has been totally disrupted because of the constant construction noise that is taking place on the cramped land space the two schools have shared for over 40 years.

Because of the construction, St Margaret’s library as well as two added on classrooms, have had to be dismantled; class space has had to be shared; children

are cramped, teachers are frustrated in far less space because of these changes to its three-storey building - which by the way was also rebuilt with little foresight - leaving it with no space for its children of primary ages, to play.

How is this fair to the children, teachers and staff of St Margaret’s?

To say that the space the students now have for play is insufficient is a misrepresentation of the case. St Margaret’s children have no space to play. At the moment they run around extremely cramped quarters, up and down the corridors, up and down three flights of stairs, because their playing space and mini courtyard is totally inadequate for the number of children - 747 - that are currently housed there.

In full view of every observant person is a fairly large plot of land next door to the two schools on busy Camp St. Could anyone say if perhaps this plot of land could have been the location of the new ‘state of the art’ nursery school so that both schools could have adequate playing space?

Was the next door lot ever considered as a playground for St Margaret’s children? Or if the new Nursery school was built there, that the St Margaret’’s children could have the grounds behind their school building as a playground? Where is the foresight? Where is the vision?

At the moment the construction workers are using the empty lot to access the new ‘state of the art’ building they are working on. Apart from the noise mentioned above, the sand that is blowing into the extremely close St Margaret’s classrooms is also affecting children and teachers.

In my humble opinion, the views of educators, parents, caregivers, paediatricians, social workers, and the general public residing and otherwise occupying the neighbourhood should have been sought and taken into consideration before this building was undertaken. Isn’t this what functioning communities are all about?

I’m sure the teachers and the parents have not forgotten all the money through fundraising and charitable donations that went into the setting up of the school’s library. I hope they are as dismayed as I am that the tables, chairs, computers and worst of all, books, are now scattered throughout the building and are also taking up space in the computer room. What an incredibly sad state of affairs!!

Another issue is the shared entrance and exit of the two school buildings. It has been that way for decades, but over that time both school populations have tripled, if not quadrupled. On extremely busy Camp St, it continues to be unwise and very dangerous that teachers and schoolchildren have to get out through one entrance. God forbid an incident like a fire, or similar tragedy was to occur, how would everyone especially children get out safely, now, or in the future? Surely, we don’t have to wait for something horrific to occur before we plan wisely to prevent it?

I am asking the Chief Education Officer and others to revisit what seems to be a very shortsighted plan - this time prioritizing the safety, comfort and overall interests of the children and teachers now attending St Margaret’s, those that will attend a new nursery school, wherever it is built, and innumerable others in years to come.

Yours faithfully,

Ann Rodrigues