Anchovy High Assisting Grade Seven Students

The Administration at Anchovy High, in St. James, is using the partial reopening of the school to facilitate its remedial intervention programme for a group of 21 Grade Seven students.

Schools across the island were reopened on June 8, to prepare fifth and sixth form students for the sitting of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), scheduled to begin on July 13.

The institutions were closed on March 13 to contain the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Principal of Anchovy High, Lavern Stewart, told JIS News that the batch of Grade Seven students will attend classes two days per week up to the close of the academic year on July 3.

She informed that the students were reading below their grade level at the start of the school year in September 2019, and the programme was introduced to improve their literacy skills.

“Just as our programme was building momentum, here came COVID- 19 and it somewhat threw our boat out of the water. Since we were reopening, we decided we would capitalise on this moment by taking in these students,” Ms. Stewart said.

The Principal noted that the academic staff members were unable to reach those pupils for online lessons.

“We know for sure that between March and this time, there are definitely some learning gaps which would have widened, because they were already a very vulnerable group. What we also found was that they were among the set of students that we were not able to engage during this period, because these students did not have access to any gadgets or any device,” Ms. Stewart explained.

“We had to go out there to find them and so we thought that it was very important that we take them back in to see what remedial work we could do with them, just to get them to a certain level so that they can move forward for Grade Eight, instead of being at the same level,” she added.

Ms. Stewart underscored that the school is providing financial support to the Grade Seven students while at school.

“We understand too that many of them have financial circumstances, so we are going to have to also cushion them through, where a meal and sometimes their bus fare are concerned,” she highlighted.

“We don’t want any child to be left behind. We are aware of the challenges that they have, but we are committed to the place that they ought to be,” Ms. Stewart emphasised.