Patrick Town gets more classrooms
Teachers and students of Patrick Town Primary and Infant School in Manchester will have the benefit of additional classrooms when the 2021-22 academic year commences in September, following the completion of a new building at the institution.
The facility, which was constructed at a cost of $32 million with financing from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education Fund, is expected to significantly address the issue of inadequate classroom space at the school.
The institution, previously a stand- alone primary school, incorporated an infant department in 2016 following a rationalisation exercise by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.
BASIC SCHOOLS MERGED
This saw several basic schools in proximity to Patrick Town Primary School being merged with the institution.
Chairman, Reverend Barrington Bailey, said that the rationalisation exercise resulted in the school’s administration reorganising the available space to accommodate new students and teachers.
“The rooms that were used for grades one and two students were transformed to accommodate the little ones, and that resulted in a change in the overall infrastructure,” Bailey explained.
The infant department has an enrolment of 29 youngsters, comprising 18 boys and 11 girls, and a staff complement of two trained teachers and a caregiver.
According to Reverend Bailey, the new building’s facilities will improve the learning environment for teachers and students.
“I think [it] will [greatly] impact their mental readiness, in that they will have more space, each teacher will have their [own] classroom, and the bathroom facilities will now be adequate. So [they] should be in a better [state] of readiness as we get ready for [the resumption of] face-to-face
learning,” he said.