More facilities to come on stream

Government will be moving ahead with its plan to create more dedicated early childhood education facilities across the island, as resources allow.

Word of this came from Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones yesterday as he delivered remarks at a service held at the Olga Millar Nursery School in Farm Gardens, Six Roads, St. Philip, to celebrate the school’s 10th anniversary.

“This Olga Millar Nursery is the first of a number of schools that we have sought to put in place, in order to encourage and develop early childhood education, to ensure that none of our little ones reaching three-years old will be disadvantaged,” the Education Minister remarked.

“Sometimes societies create differences between our children, but the role of a state is to level the playing field, so that all of our children can benefit from early stimulation, early learning, in all of its many facets,” he maintained.

Only last Wednesday, he noted, the Ministry opened the Maria Holder Nursery School at Oldbury, St. Philip. That educational facility was funded by the Maria Holder Memorial Trust. The very first school to be built under the charity’s name however, was the Maria Holder Nursery School in Sharon, St. Thomas. Another one is also in operation at Gall Hill in Christ Church.

During his address, Jones revealed that these nursery schools all came about as Chairman and co-founder of the Maria Holder Memorial Trust, Christopher Holder first attended the opening of the Olga Miller Nursery School back in 2008. Holder was so impressed, Jones said, that he embarked on a mission to build the nursery schools, which bear the name of his late mother.

Given their success to date, Jones noted, there are more of these nursery schools in the works.

“We are going to do a new one for Government Hill. That’s going to be a school (for 120 pupils), a new one at Holder’s Hill, a new one at Sayes Court, just below the day care centre there and a new one in Deacons. So there will complete that suite of schools,” Jones pointed out.

Principal of the Olga Millar Nursery School, Wendy Small, in reflecting on the ten years of the school’s existence commented, “This school is part of government’s expansion programme to cater to early childhood education”.

The research contends that high quality early childhood programmes make a difference to the lives of children who are exposed to such programmes.

Noting that the records show that 723 students have spent their first year in school at that institution over the period, she added that 72 are currently enrolled and another fourteen will be enrolled next term. (RSM)