Majority Turnout For Classes At Westmoreland School

The Petersfield Primary and Infant School in Westmoreland resumed full face-to-face classes on Monday (March 7).

The school has a population of more than 700 students and more than 80 per cent were in attendance on the first day.

Principal Susan Rattray-Hammond told JIS News that preparations for the full resumption of in-person classes at the institution were made far in advance.

“The team has been ready, we have been preparing the space to meet our students, and so far, the parents have been very receptive. For the first day, 82 per cent of our students are in for face to face, which we are happy for, and with that number, we know [attendance] will be trending up as we proceed into the week and beyond,” Mrs. Rattray-Hammond said.

The principal expressed gratitude to the parents who sent their children to school and appealed to parents of absent students to “send out the children, because we really need to do all that we can to bridge the gap in terms of their learning and to make up for the [learning loss] that happened in the past two years”.

Mrs. Rattray-Hammond also noted that the school engages students virtually if they are having challenges attending face-to-face classes.

“We facilitate them in the virtual space, so for instance, [one parent’s] children aren’t able to come out this morning because of situations in the community and things that could probably put them at risk, so we have been engaging them online because we don’t want them to miss out on anything,” she outlined.

She said that while students were excited to see and interact with their peers, they were compliant with the COVID-19 protocols at the institution, such as mask wearing, social distancing and frequent washing and sanitising of the hands.

Mrs. Rattray-Hammond noted that parents were also very compliant with dropping off their children and ensuring that they entered the premises in an orderly fashion to be sanitised and given temperature checks.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Rattray-Hammond implored persons who are transporting the students to continue adhering to the COVID-19 protocols, “because while we make the space at school safe for them, the concern in terms of what happens between home and when they get to school is always there, and so we are relying on our transport persons to ensure that the students are safe when they are with them”.

Students expressed that they are excited to be back in daily face-to-face classes.

Grade-six student Adayna Munroe told JIS News that she was happy to be back at school as she is now preparing for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations, and she found the virtual preparations a bit “tricky”.

Grade-one student Daniel Dixon said he felt “excellent” about coming back to school, as he had missed his friends.