Throughout the month of July, Jessie Ripoll Primary, Mt. St. Joseph Prep, Alpha Academy and Alpha Primary School each hosted their annual summer schools. These were all well attended with Jessie Ripoll even seeing a total number of 300 students participate.
Each summer school programme was bursting with a diverse set of fun, educational classes and activities aimed at preparing them academically and socially for the following school year. The primary-level schools focused on enhancing students’ skills in core subject areas including Mathematics, Language Arts, Integrated Studies, Science, Social Studies, Performance Task and Reading Comprehension. This was done, in part, to further equip them for the national Primary Exit Profile (PEP) assessments which are administered from grades 4 to 6. Similarly, Alpha Academy implemented a School-Based Assessment “head start” programme at their summer school which prepared older students for the course work required for them to undergo important regional examinations (i.e. those administered by the Caribbean Examinations Council).
Other subjects and enrichment activities were also on offer; a number of which actually proved to be favourites among the students. These included Art & Craft, Spanish, Drama, Swimming, Football, Physical Education, Penmanship, Table setting and STEM-based activities (e.g. Robotics, Graphic Design and Digital Literacy classes). Additionally, each week, students from Jessie Ripoll and Alpha Primary were treated to an off-campus excursion to places such as the cinema, Struan Castle Gardens, and the famous Devon House mansion. Such trips allowed students to explore Jamaican sites which have cultural and historical significance as well as to enjoy positive social interactions with each other while engaging in recreational activities.
Through these four summer schools, parents/guardians were able to confidently leave their children in a safe, secure, educationally-stimulating environment under the supervision of trusted teachers. Moreover, these experiences helped to reduce the anxieties of first time and current students about the coming school year by allowing them to get accustomed to teachers, their peers and some of the topics from the upcoming syllabus. Students, teachers and parents appreciated this time well spent during the summer and look forward to next year’s summer activities!
