Students at Kingstown Preparatory School turn scraps into mats

by Eldonté Samuel

One of the classrooms of the Kingstown Preparatory School was decorated in an array of vibrantly coloured mats last Friday May 24,2024, as the students anticipated the results of their work in the school’s scrap mat competition.

The assignment was given to the students to complete over their Easter break with the judging being done at the school on Friday, and culminated with a small prize giving ceremony on Monday May 27, 2024, at the school’s library.

AMARA FRANCIS receives her prize from Principal Bernadette Latchman.

Amara Francis of room 9; Dre Abbot of room 10; Jaya Williams of room 18; and Gianna Charles of room 19, placed first from their Grade 4 classes respectively. The competition did not have a specific theme; the children were told to be creative, allowing them to make any patterns of their choosing. However not all students got to finish their projects. “They were supposed to go home and every night spend an hour or so,” said Nievet Isles the school’s Arts and Craft teacher.
Isles however said that she was pleased with the array of projects submitted; it was enough to fill the room.

The students were required to make the scrap mats from 50 pound ECGC sacks, and a piece of scrap – old clothing, old fabric – from seamstresses/tailors. The sack had to be of a certain length.

A few students tied their scraps and Isles concluded that this was because some students cut their scraps too small, resulting in the mats feeling uncomfortable.

“When you tie them, they’re knotty and you can’t kneel on them – they can hurt your knees,” Isles explained. She, however, acknowledged the entries of all the students.

PRINCIPAL Bernadette LATCHMAN presents a prize to Gianna Charles.

“One child brought theirs and say ‘Miss I try eh’…I told them ‘yes, I see you try’.” However, Isles made note of a few stand out pieces. She said in her experience, students who are skilled at drawing will usually excel at craft and other creative pieces, and those were the ones that stood out, “so they’re good at their art and they transferred the art onto their sacks.”

Isles said for years she has been battling the challenge of parents taking over a student’s project which she said stunts their creativity and affects the quality of the final product.

“I think parents, as usual put their own ideas in the children’s head. This one, (pointing to a students project), pretty cute, but did not follow the instructions.”

Nonetheless she said, “…we appreciate all of them because this is a different type of scrap mat”.

Isles said though parents were allowed to cut scraps for their child the execution of the project was the child’s responsibility. Projects that were found to not be a student’s original work were disqualified from the competition.

She said, “In a competition like this, the parents right away want them to win”. Recounting a recent recycling competition, Isles said “…you see them bring a book bag made out of juice boxes, and they were sewed on machine. You know the child did not do that”.

Isles champions the inclusion of arts and crafts as a part of a school’s curriculum. She recounted a time where the teacher of a class approached her and was in shock that a student who was distracted, was now paying attention in class.

“She [teacher of the class] said that the child needs to learn in a different way. She realised now he’s activating his mind, he’s working, and he’s so focused and not even thinking about going outside.”

At KPS, Arts and Crafts is not graded and Isles mentioned that parents are reluctant at times to source materials for their child’s art projects. The students are expected soon to be engaged in making portions of carnival costumes.