With the need to expand resources and develop proven approaches to teaching and learning in Special Needs Education, the Alma Parris Academy will reopen in a preparatory phase at the beginning of the academic year, with enrollment of students slated for January 2025.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, the Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training (METVT), Kay McConney, expressed that it was necessary for the Ministry of Education to develop a different strategy in the area of special needs. She stressed, that there was a need for different approaches inclusive of the play-based approach at the nursery level and project-based approach in the upper schools.
“Special Education needs has increased significantly. We are seeing an increased number of persons presenting with autism and other challenges. Let me be straight, the ministry does not have, at this time, the resources to address every single challenge and every single child, but we are working. The Chief [Education Officer] and her team are working on a plan for us to be able to properly quantify the need and then be able to build the partnerships that will allow us to respond in a more fulsome way to the entire need.”
Ms. McConney disclosed that the reopening of the school is one of the ministry’s initiatives to provide additional support to students, by placing them in a customised learning environment best suited to addressing their specific needs. She added that mandatory diagnostic testing would be incorporated to ensure that the Education Ministry is targeting the interventions according to the specific needs of these students.
“We are going to do the diagnostic testing. I have said to the team, 100% of those students who go into that school must have the diagnostic testing completed. We must go into January with individual educational plans for each child. It cannot be a one size fit all, and we have to customise plans to suit each child. Those individual education plans, those IEPs, must be completed before any child enters the new Alma Parris Academy.”
The Education Minister shared that during the period of September to December, the METVT would be undertaking the preparatory work ahead of the January opening. She revealed, that within this phase, there will be continuous training of teachers and the introduction of pilot programmes with some of the students during that time. This, she noted, will test certain methodologies and approaches and allow for feedback as to how it works. The phase will also see the creation of additional space at the school.
In response to a media query, Ms. McConney confirmed that although the Ministry initially anticipated 30 students, the number of students has now increased to 80.
“We were ready for the 30, as part of this preparatory few months which I mentioned, we will be seeking better ways of catering to more….
“Just bear in mind that there’s limited space on that compound, and therefore part of our constraint would not be a lack of capacity of the ministry, necessarily, but it may be that we have to see how best we can create additional space that is customised and workable for students with those particular needs,” she responded.
In response to a question about the addition of more special needs schools, Chief Education Officer, Dr. Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, admitted that the Education Ministry needs to “scale up” when it comes to providing spaces for students with special education needs.
She explained: “We must be mindful that we can only have so much capacity at this point in time. What I will tell you is that between 2022 and this year, we have increased the number of inclusionary spaces in this country to accommodate those children with special education needs. We have increased space at Baileys Primary School.
“We have increased space at the Eagle Hall Primary School. We have introduced an inclusionary unit at the Milton Lynch Primary School, and we have expanded at St. Christopher Primary School.”
The Education Chief noted that in addition to this progress, the Ministry is also focused on ensuring that teachers in mainstream schools receive the opportunity to be adequately equipped to cater to students with special education needs.
“As I said, capacity is limited. Space is limited, and we recognise that every time we look around, we have more and more children who are presenting with different kinds of special needs. It is therefore best for us at this time, not only to look to increase capacity where we can, but to ensure that the teachers who are in the mainstream schools are well equipped to handle those children with the special education [needs],” she added.