A welcome ‘reception’ at the capital’s primary school
(CNS): For the first time in almost two decades parents living in the George Town Primary School catchment area are being offered a chance to send their children to a reception class for the new school year. Part of a pilot programme, through which the Ministry of Education is exploring the possibility of reintroducing reception classes to all government primary schools, George Town Primary will offer these classes to students who are at least 4 years of age on 1 September 2010 but who fall below the age for school entry. At present only the primary schools on the Brac and those in East End and North Side offer a reception class.
Under current policy, students who turn 5 on or before 31 January 2011 are eligible for entry to Year 1 this September. Reception classes will cater to students who fall below that age, but are already 4 years old. The return of reception classes to George Town Primary School is the fulfilment of a long-held dream for Principal Marie Martin. “Reception classes ensure that children get a good start in school and this is essential if they are to achieve their full potential,” Martin said.
In order to qualify for entry to George Town Primary School’s Reception classes, children must live within the catchment area for the school. This is defined as: the areas south of Government House to Memorial Avenue continuing north along walkers Road to Maple Road and east along Smith Road to the Crewe Road airport junction; north onto Airport Road, through the new junction in Industrial Park to include all areas north and east past the Owen Roberts Airport to the North Sound Barcadere.
If this pilot is successful, government officials said the ministry intends to move ahead with the reintroduction of reception classes in other schools.
“Developing the human capital of our country is not just about working with adults,” said Rolston Anglin, Minister for Education, Training and Employment. “Building a culture of success starts with the smallest members of our society.”
Parents or guardians living in the George Town Primary School catchment area can contact the school at 949-2689 or the Department of Education Services, 130 Thomas Russell Way, at 945-1199 for registration forms and more information. The deadline for registration of students is 20 August 2010. Parents who register their children after this date cannot be guaranteed a space in this pilot programme.
Category: Local News
What ever happened to the effort to improve private preschools? Think this will be a great loss of business for them.
A great loss of business to the private pre-schools? That shouldn’t be the primary concern. Are all the children of reception age in the GTPS catchment area getting the preparation that they need to enter primary school? It has been shown that there was great disparity between the offerings at private pre-schools and year 1 students were being accepted with a great variance of preparedness which ultimately created problems in the classroom.
I think that it is a very good thing that it is being re-introduced and I am fairly certain that other schools will soon follow the leader!
No doubt it is a good thing for Cayman’s children. However, millions of dollars have been spent on an Early YearsUnit in Cayman to improve early years settings. It appears, with the reintroduction of reception classes, this effort has failed.
I am so happy to know that the government educational system has finally accepted the need for pre-shool education being a part of a successful educational stradegy. I advocated for this from 1978, and lost my job with government because I wrote a letter to the Compass in 1979, which stated that such a headstart program was essential, especially for the socially disadvantaged among us. I guess no good is too late?
Dr. Frank
"I guess no good is too late?" Is that even English? Also, you may want to tone down the chest thumping a bit and let others have a little bit of credit. Or maybe you’re in the Al Gore camp, the one that invented the internet…
Hey, you tone it down a bit. Not Dr. Frank’s fault if you can’t read properly – although I know he would like to help you. That was a very simple statement: it’s never too late for a good thing to be done. Hope you get it. Dr. Frank was and is a prophet. Things that he prophesied 30 years ago have all come to pass. Pity no one was paying attention to his ‘lone voice that was crying in the wilderness’.
Maybe Dr. Frank ought to phrase it in a way that it’s clearly understood… After all, he does hold a PhD. And still, "I guess no good is too late?" does not equal "it’s never too late for a good thing to be done". Perhaps it’s what he may have wanted to state. As for the chest thumping, I was merely stating that he ought to let others take a bit of the glory, instead of jumping all over the story as if he was the inventor of reception classes; otherwise he may just come across as a lot of a braggart. Ultimately this story was about George Town Primary School and Ms. Martin – not Dr. Frank. Get it?If he wanted the limelight, he could have contacted caymannewsservice and asked Wendy to write a report of the time that he was fired, blah blah blah… And lastly, I doubt very much that he’s a prophet – many thought that Jim Jones was a prophet, and look where they ended up…
well done ms. martin. i’m sure you were able to achieve this through sheer determination alone – and, as usual, without much help from those above you… they better find you a nice spot at good ol’ gtps to rest your weary bones when you retire…
Congrats Ms. Martin!
Your hardwork and dedication is outstanding.
I truly hope you didnt get a 3.2 salary cut, you are on another Civil Servant level.
I believe reception classes were removed from government and privatised to pre-schools: are we reintroducing them now – presumably, at cost?
it would actually save the govt money from providing preschool assistance to kids
What a ridiculous post! It was a terrible move by Govt when they took away the reception classes and pumped money into the private pre-schools. Many of them are not up to standard. Of course it will cost to reintroduce the reception into Govt schools – do you know anything that’s for free – other than SALVATION?
It’s not too late to correct a mistake and remember, it’s only a fool that won’t change his/her mind when they realise they’re wrong.
this is great