Two schools miss September 5 date

While thousands of students returned to their respective schools yesterday at the beginning of the school year, almost 900 others have an extra week at home.

The St Mary’s Roman Catholic School (SMRC), a privately run primary school and the Government owned Petit Bordel Secondary School (PBSS) did not reopen on schedule, owing to ongoing refurbishment work.{{more}}

The SMRC school, which is located at North River Road in Kingstown, has an average annual enrollment of about 575 students, while approximately 320 students are normally enrolled at the PBSS, located just outside the North Leeward town of Chateaubelair.

Both schools are scheduled to reopen on Monday, September 12.

Another school, the Dorsetshire Hill Government primary school, will for the next year or so be relocated to the Dorsetshire Hill Evangelical Church, to allow for renovations which will bring the school up to the standard of an emergency shelter. The works, which began yesterday, September 5, include the upgrade of the roof, installation of hurricane shutters and the replacement of windows. Improvements are also being done to the kitchen, rest rooms and external drainage.

In his message at the start of the school year, Minister of Education St Clair “Jimmy” Prince thanked the church for allowing them the use of the church building.

“I would like to thank management, Pastor Leslie Daize and members of the Dorsetshire Evangelical Church for kindly consenting for the use of the church building. The teachers and students are happy with the accommodations provided.”

The education minister also stated that the restorative work that was done on the Canouan Government School over the summer vacation was completed and the Ministry is satisfied with the quality of the work and the school has reopened on time. (LC)