Students of the Hindsbury Primary School receiving information from the health booth at yesterday’s Open Day at the Probation Department.
Gwendolyn Carter, teacher from Hindsbury Primary School, with a group of her students as they took part in the Probation Department’s Open Day.
Students from Hindsbury Primary School taking notes from one of the booths.
Chief Probation Officer, Dorita Lovell.
As a part of their 72nd anniversary celebrations, the Probation Department opened their doors to the children of different schools and general public yesterday morning.
Dorita Lovell, Chief Probation Officer told The Barbados Advocate that this event was planned as a way to incorporate the community in their day to day functions as a department. She revealed that in the past they would usually go in the community areas such as National Square and Heroes’ Square to speak to people in the general public, but realised that inviting them into the department would give them a better idea about what happened behind their doors.
Children from Hindsbury Primary School, The St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Primary School and Coleridge and Parry Secondary School (CP) got the opportunity to interact with other members of probation department.
“So far the turn out for today has been excellent. We know that this time of the year is usually a little difficult to get the secondary schools out because of exams so it’s good to see at least a few of them here today,” Lovell said.
She revealed that the Probation Department did not only specialise in justice matters, but were also active members in the community and explained that the different booths were designed to give students and other people of the general public an idea of the different community outreach programmes that the department led and took part in.
“We always want to assure the community that we will do the best and that is a part of our theme for this year; what we’re doing is trying to strike a balance for a better and safer community,” she said.
Meanwhile, students from the other schools were noticeably pleased by the Open Day as many of them did not miss a chance to ask questions and interact with persons at booths. A few people also commented on being surprised by the amount of work the probation department took part in, especially the number of their out reach programmes.