Public schools benefit from private initiative

By Paul Johnston

More than $40,000 worth of school supplies were delivered over the past two days as part of a bid to bolster Bermuda’s public primary schools.

The drive, organised by Supporting Public Schools, kicked off at West Pembroke School on Wednesday before volunteers visited eight other schools.

Donations were made to the other nine primary schools yesterday. Juliana Snelling, founder of Supporting Public Schools, said after the first day of the drive that it was a huge success.

She said: “It couldn’t have gone any better.”

Kenten Trott, a team member with SPS, described the first day as “absolutely wonderful”.

Mr Trott added: “The smiles and the joy seen in the teachers’ faces to be getting school supplies was amazing.

“They were so excited to be able to have these resources to be able to better equip young people and better educate.”

Ms Snelling said that supplies, including marker pens, printers, headphones and even cricket bats, aimed at “enhancing the learning experience”.

The project has targeted pupils aged 6and 7.

Ms Snelling added the organisation hoped to move from the provision of school supplies to helping to set up in-class discussions and field trips.

She said that she “couldn’t be happier” with the welcome the privately funded project had received from those in the schools, since it was founded in June.

Ms Snelling added: “I didn’t know what to expect, whether it would be apathy or just being ignored. The opposite was the case from the principals and from the teachers.”

Ms Snelling added that the organisation had also been welcomed by the Ministry of Education.  She added: “I’ve had no negative reaction whatsoever.”

Kalmar Richards, acting Commissioner of Education, thanked the group for the donations.  Ms Richards said that Plan 2022, Bermuda’s strategic plan for education launched last year, had invited community members to support the island’s public schools.

She added: “The establishment of SPS is a commendable and outstanding response to that call for action.”

Ms Richards said the group had aligned its mission with the strategies of Plan 2022 “with a focus on rallying community donors to provide instructional resources to public schools”.

She added: “I applaud their efforts to enhance and enrich the experiences of primary school students in the Bermuda public school system.”

For more information on Supporting Public Schools, visit SPS.bm.