(From left) Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, and St. Michael South MP, Kirk Humphrey; Principal of Bay Primary School, Heather Parris; Nicole Brathwaite, the co-ordinating teacher of the beatification project; and Pastor Hal Welch, admiring the newly painted mural.
Students of the Bay Primary School will soon have a big reason to smile about, as staff and members of the private sector have joined together to give the facility a much-needed sprucing up.
This is because the school is currently undergoing a beatification programme, which will see the compound receiving freshly painted walls, a new stage for outdoor performances, and local plants being introduced to the surroundings, as part of a drive to create a more welcoming environment for students and staff.
During a brief walk through with Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, and St. Michael South MP, Kirk Humphrey, and other school officials, Nicole Brathwaite, the co-ordinating teacher of the project, said that the goal of the exercise is to make the educational institution one of the most welcoming ones on the island.
“The project started as a beatification project while doing an educational leadership programme. It was really intended to make the whole visage of the school beautiful to see and be the best place for learning and teaching on the island. We want the children to have a positive environment in which to learn in, and for teachers to have an environment where they feel that when they come into the space, that they are happy to be here,” Brathwaite said.
Pastor Hal Welch, who conducts church services on the grounds every Sunday, spoke of the importance of inspiring the whole community, in making the surroundings more attractive for all.
“We partnered with the school and the whole community because we want to lift the [area] up in ways that Barbados has never seen. The school is a big part of our community, because it has a legacy that is second to none in this island, so we want to beautify it. The painting of the school is a lot of hard work, but we report every Saturday and some Sundays to speed up the work. We also want to place some names of every principal that ever taught at the school, to let people know who come to the school, the history of the school,” Welch revealed.
Though members of the private sector have lent their support, a young artisan by the name of Nicholas Braithwaite has gone a step further in providing a much-needed landscaping eye to the project.
“I always felt like I could do something, so I started small. It was after the students came back from vacation, and I [see] the beautification project getting fully under way, I said OK, I will do something. I decided to start a small garden inside the compound, and another on the outskirts. I then took cuttings of plants, grew them back from scratch, to be able to plant new fresh ones in this area. I am doing it out of my own free will, and with God’s grace. I am unemployed, but I felt like I could make a difference, so I just started.”
Minister Kirk Humphrey, whose ministry has been assisting in the project, said that he was pleased to be a part of the exercise. He hoped that other communities would take note, and begin similar projects for their schools which are in need.