Hanover and Westmoreland Included in ECC, Region 4, Learning Centre Competition

Following the successful staging of the Early Childhood Institution (ECI) Learning Centre Competition in St James last year, the Early Childhood Commission (ECC), Region 4, has expanded the competition to include ECIs in Hanover and Westmoreland.

The competition in those parishes will be held before the end of the current school term.

Development Officer for the ECC in St. James, Michelle Colley-Grinion, who spearheads the competition, told JIS News that the 2022 staging met all its objectives and attracted the attention of several school administrators in the other parishes in Region 4, hence the ECC will be sponsoring ECI learning competitions throughout Region 4.

The competition was launched in 2019 to motivate early-childhood educators to engage in early stimulation of children, particularly those in the zero to three-year-old cohort, with the creation of learning centres.

Learning centres, she explained, are germane to the development of the beginners’ curiosity about their environment and the development of their healthy approach towards learning.

Mrs. Colley-Grinion pointed out that the intrusion of the COVID-19 pandemic not only disengaged those children who were already enrolled in ECIs, but also delayed the registration of the zero to three-year-old cohort.

She said that based on information gleaned from school visits by Parish Development Officers, it was determined that more had to be done to improve the affected children’s cognitive development through the early introduction of simple activities such as structured playing, singing, dancing and reading using available and affordable means, especially for children who were denied that kind of stimulation between 2020 and 2021.

Therefore, as part of the thrust to encourage educators and caregivers to provide such learning opportunities in their ECIs, the ECC in Region 4 conceived the idea of a competition aimed at re-engaging and motivating teachers.

The challenge, Mrs. Colley-Grinion said, was “to encourage teachers to be more responsive to the emotional and physical needs of the children in their care by exposing them to purposeful play, words, numbers, and simple concepts while carrying out their daily routines”.

Mrs. Colley-Grinion said she was pleased that participating teachers met the challenge, as “they put in some really hard work and we want to see that replicated in all [the ECIs] … and that was one of the objectives [of the competition]”.

“In Region 4 [as part of our role as Development Officers], we went out into the schools to see if they were meeting the standards and to assist them in any way we can, and when we looked at the learning centres, we realised that they needed a little more help… a little more ideas, a little more creativity,” she noted.

So successful was the competition in 2022, that plans for staging the competition in Hanover and Westmoreland this year are well advanced.

It is intended that the competition will show teachers that they can achieve much in enriching the learning experience of their children, even with limited resources.

It is also hoped that the experience will also redound to parents and other caregivers.

Learning centres are areas within the classroom where students learn about specific subjects by playing and engaging in activities.

These centres allow children to experience satisfaction from completing purposeful tasks.

The 2023 Learning Centre Competition took place at the DRB Grant Resource Centre in Montego Bay and saw nine ECIs competing in five categories.

Winners in the five categories of Learning Centres were Language and Reading Centre – Full Gospel Basic School, Art and Sensory Centre – Riverside Basic School, Dramatic Play Centre – Spring Mount Basic School, Manipulatives and Cognitive Centre – Greater Destiny Preparatory and Kindergarten, and Science and Nature Centre – Wee Care Basic School.

Wee Care Basic School emerged overall winner and was presented with the Early Childhood Commission Learning Centre Competition Trophy, school supplies, gift vouchers and a cash award of $30,000.

Spring Mount Basic School and Greater Destiny Preparatory and Kindergarten tied for second place and received trophies and cash prizes of $20,000 each.

Greater Destiny Preparatory and Kindergarten was also awarded third place.

All nine participating ECIs were presented with school supplies.

The 13 Learning Centres exhibits were on display at the DRB Grant Resource Centre in Catherine Hall, St. James, where they were viewed by teachers and parents from across the Region.

Sponsors included St. James Municipal Corporation, BicWeld Ltd, The Book Merchant, Camille Brooks and Company, Caribbean Products Company Ltd, Carolyn Clarke-Brown, Divine Reading Room, Greenpond Primary and Infant School, Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa, KMar Books and Cyber-flex store, Lina Medical and The Gynaecology Centre, Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) Limited, Summit Medical Centre, ValuDrug Pharmacy and Wong’s Medical Centre.