Education Up Date
By Stephanie Humblestone

In the words of Superintendent for
Education Jackson MclIntosh, "Central
Abaco Primary School is bursting at the
seams." It is so crowded that plans are
going ahead for borrowing portable
classrooms. This is the case with
Treasure Cay Primary, which now has
one comfortably installed at their
campus, having come from _ Forest
Heights Academy in Marsh Harbour.

Landscaping at Central Abaco
Primary still needs to be addressed and
continues to be a sore point with teachers
and parents who are concerned about the
open trenches and the safety of young
students. "This is a totally unacceptable
situation," commented Mr. Mclntosh,
who predicts that the situation will be
resolved once the walkways are
completed.

The school continues to operate as a
split campus with Grades 1 to 3 at the
new site and Grades 4 to 6 still at the old
school in Dundas Town. Building Phase
2, which will remedy this situation and
re-unite the school, is on hold but should
be ready by September 1999.

The pre-school programmes and a
Spanish course are both being postponed
until January 1999.

Plans are ahead to put computers in all
schools in the Bahamas. Two million
dollars of the national budget has been
set aside for this project. Here on Abaco
there will be at least two out of the 12
schools will have enough computers for
teaching in the near future. Throughout
the Bahamas it will be done in phases
over a five year period.

Plans are ahead to provide schools
throughout Abaco with funds for
subscriptions to three educational
magazines with a view to keeping
teachers informed and exposed to new
trends in education.

An itinerant Special Education
Programme is presently under discussion.
This year Lynette Sawh from Guyana
will assess special educational needs two
days of the week at S.C. Bootle School
in Cooper’s Town where she has been
teaching for the past five years. This will
be addressing a very real need while at
the same time enabling Ms. Sawh to
work within her field of expertise. She
will also act in an advisory capacity

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throughout North Abaco.

A similar programme will come into
effect next year in South and Central
Abaco. Already Jill Saunders from
Nassau, a teacher at Abaco Central High
School and qualified in this area, will
assist in the programme.

The Ministry of Education is allowing
janitorial needs to be procured on a
district level. This means that supplies
will be bought locally, not sent from
Nassau. This will make life much easier
for everyone concerned.

It is hoped that the future will bring
the same policy for instructional supplies.

our workshops for educators were

VEL Who ave DEUS

held during the month of August to
establish a common district examination
for grades 4, 5 and 6. The first of these
exams will be held in March of next
year. The exams will indicate how the
district is doing with the set curriculums.
The same system was implemented two
to three years ago on Andros and more
recently in the Exumas. It has proved to
be effective in testing and evaluating both
teachers and students.

Man-O-War All Age and Guana All
Age Schools are reluctant to release the
title of All Age with fierce parental
resistance to keep children after Grade 6
on the cays.

S.C. Bootle High School

By Stephanie Humblestone

Mr. Rolle, Principal of S.C. Bootle
School in Cooper’s Town, reported that
the BJC and BGCSE results last year
were very promising. There was a
marked improvement in the results from
the previous year, the year Mr. Rolle
joined the school.

In 1996-1997 there were 1 A, 6 B’s,
13 C’s, and 20 D’s. This year there were

.11 A’s, 20 B’s , 37 C’s and 34 D’s.

These excellent grades prompted Mrs.
Iris Pinder, Director of Education in
Nassau, to personally call the school to
congratulate them for having placed fifth
in the entire Bahamas.

Mr. Rolle reported that he has 57 new
students enrolled for the coming winter
term. There are 23 staff members, three
less than last academic year. Thirteen are
Bahamians and ten are foreigners. There
are no new staff members. The number
of subjects offered has been decreased,
but students can still select the some of
the subjects they want ‘to take.
Agricultural science is being added to the

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mechanics

curriculum. The auto
programme is being activated this year.

Seven out of ten our graduates were
accepted at the College of the Bahamas
on the strength of their BGCSE exam
results.

The school is undergoing repairs to
doors, louvres and windows.

Abaco Central High School
By Stephanie Humblestone
There is a total enrolment of 560
students this year, 100 of whom are new.
The curriculum is basically the same.
Two new subjects have been added, auto
mechanics and cosmetology

There are four new teachers. These

include French teacher Yolande Ferguson
from the College of the Bahamas and
social studies and religious knowledge
teacher Raquel Gaitor also from Nassau.
There will also be a new science teacher
and physical education instructor. The
full staff complement is 33.

Students, according to Mrs. Royann
Swain, Principal of Abaco Central High
School, did "fair" in the BGCSE’s and
"good" in their PSAT and SAT results.

A new requirement this year is that all

boys will wear a white tie.

Landscaping of the school is now
complete but local government still has

   

not attended to painting the school.

Education Officials
Visit Abaco

On the 17th of September a delegation
from the Department of Education in
Nassau led by Mr. Dion Foulkes,
Minister of State for Education, came to
Abaco to visit some of the government
schools on the island. Traveling with Mr.
Foulkes were Mrs. Iris Pinder, Director
of Education, and Ms. Verona Archer,
Deputy Director of Education for
Curriculum.

Their tour started in North Abaco with
visits to S.C. Bootle High School and
Cooper’s Town Primary School. The
group then visited Treasure Cay Primary
School. In Central Abaco the group
visited Abaco Central Secondary where
they held a brief meeting with the
teachers and administration and visited
some of the classrooms. Their final stop
before departing was Central Abaco
Primary School

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