Seventy-seven students, who deferred taking the 2014 Barbados Secondary Schools??? Entrance Examination, were today encouraged to take the advice of their parents, become disciplined and know that they too can achieve.
This encouragement came from those who addressed the close of Summer School Primary, at George Lamming Primary School, Flint Hall, St. Michael.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Senator Harry Husbands, said: ???You have just one little task, to listen to the advice of your parents. That???s all you have to do in life. Go to school, do your work, watch a little television, play a little video game and listen to your parents.???
Parents were also asked to pay interest in their children, and Senator Husbands said it was their responsibility to guide and discipline them, something that could be achieved by taking them to church.
Recounting how this and the act of going to the library and learning to read had influenced his own life, the former teacher said: ???Insist on your children going to church; what is important is the discipline and experience that they [will] get.???
Commending parents for showing interest in the programme, he added: ???Don???t mind that your son and daughter had to attend Summer School???but you have in your hand now the opportunity to change their lives???.???
Meanwhile, Senior Education Officer, Fernando Carter, stressed to the young participants that they all had the potential to learn. He stated: ???All Students can learn; not in the same way, in the same time or at the same rate, but learn nevertheless.???
Reminding them of the motto for Summer School Primary, he said, ??????No One Can Do Everything but Everyone Can do Something???, and this is something that you as parents, teachers, principals and all those persons involved in the education sector must be aware of.???
He also urged teachers and principals to address all learning problems and challenges ???in a timely and appropriate manner???.
Meanwhile, a report on the Summer School Primary from coordinators, Janelle Little and Samuel Maynard, revealed that emphasis had been placed on motivating the young participants throughout the programme. It said: ???Students were encouraged daily to realise their true potential, and were reminded not to allow others to place limitations on what they can achieve. The students were told stories of Biblical and modern persons who believed they had what it took to overcome great obstacles.???
Summer School Primary, which began on July 8, was aimed at helping students to improve their performance, skills and conceptual understanding in areas of difficulty related to Language Arts, Mathematics and Reading. Students engaged in reading lessons using tablets, participated in interactive Mathematics lessons using Mimio technology, and took part in Comprehension and Grammar lessons using laptops, thanks to assistance from Digicel.
The coordinators further reported that this encouraged a ???very stimulating learning environment, where individualised, differentiated instruction was emphasised???.
Students were also exposed to a variety of fun and engaging manipulatives, which provided remediation in Mathematics, Language Arts and Reading. To further ensure that those who attended received instruction at their level, every child in the programme was assessed in each subject area. Armed with this knowledge, students were grouped according to their ability levels.
???During the reading lessons, students were exposed to different genres of texts through shared reading and guided reading. The use of levelled readers was extremely beneficial in helping students to read at their instructional level,??? concluded the coordinators.
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb