Beau Vallon primary invites community businesses to share school projects |09 August 2017
The Beau Vallon primary school is seeking the participation of businesses in the community and around the country to share projects the school has earmarked with the aim of facilitating learning and to create a more conducive working environment for the staff.
To give weight to the invitation, the school, through its Parents Teachers Association (PTA), organised a cocktail evening of soft refreshments for representatives who have already pledged their support or which have shown interest.
The cocktail, which was held at the Beau Vallon Bay Hotel & Casino, was sponsored by the hotel itself as part of its contribution towards the school’s good initiative.
They have proposed 10 projects which consist of providing the school with plastic chairs and steel folding tables; musical instruments; PA System; French Reading Schemes; educational toys and games; ICT equipment, upgrading of dance and music room; benches; staff comfort and grad bags. The school has gone the extra mile by attaching formal invoices to each of their requirements so businesses can have an idea how much the equipment cost. And of course a Pledge Form which the interested business representatives could sign.
Also present where Cyril Pillay, director of schools; staff of the school including head teacher Julianna Agathine and other teachers; Justin Freminot, chairman of the Beau Vallon primary school council; parents and children themselves.
The evening was animated by a traditional dance performance, Sega Pannyen, by the children.
Feeling honoured and appreciative to have the businesses among them, Mrs Agathine said in deciding what projects to push through, they had to first sort out their success and the non-success stories which enabled them to identify what needed to be improved.
She said the needs of her school were much more than what have been tabled but they prioritised.
“So we said why not sit down and write down some projects so that we can share with the community as we discovered they were a lot bigger than we could do as a school alone. That is why we said we would go in the Beau Vallon community. Let’s talk to partners. Let’s share our projects. Because for us at Beau Vallon school we would like to work in partnership with the community,” she said.
Mrs Agathine revealed the plastic chairs/folding tables project has already been pledged for and for that both she, the staff, children of the school are very grateful.
“I expected something a little less grandiose. But when I saw printed proposals on the chair, very clear and precise in what the school wanted, I said “My, My”! This is what we want. Schools to take the initiatives,” said Mr Pillay when addressing the gathering. He made reference to the current call for more autonomy by the school and he said this is a big step in achieving that purpose.
“What Mrs Agathine is doing is a step in that direction. And this is very important,” he said.
He said while the Ministry of Education tries its best to give the school a budget, it can never be enough to cover everything a school may need.
As for Mr Freminot he also had words of appreciation for the businesses which have come forward to assist them. And hope they continue to do so.
The objectives of the projects are as follows:
- Plastic chairs and folding tables: For the school to have better facilities for its clients when it hosts different activities in the school;
- The musical instruments: To assist in upgrading their quality of music lessons and further develop pupils’ potentials;
- PA System: To have proper equipment that will enable the school to host assemblies and other events with good quality sound;
- French reading schemes: To make available sets of reading books for the teaching of reading in French;
- Educational toys and games: To create a safer environment for pupils during lunch time by providing more positive games;
- ICT equipment: To enhance the school’s capacity in providing ICT equipment that would help learning in the school;
- Upgrading of dance and music room: To provide a more conducive learning space as pupils find it difficult to copy their music notes or lyrics as there are only a few chairs and tables in the room;
- Benches: To have sitting facilities outside the classroom;
- Staff comfort: To provide a more conducive environment in the staffroom to improve staff productivity and to better welcome visitors in the headteacher’s office;
- Grad bags: For use in cases of emergencies.
The accompanying photos show highlights of the cocktail evening.
M.J.