Franklin Town Primary School receives ���enriching��� boost to its image


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Franklin Town Primary School receives ���enriching��� boost to its image

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Franklin Town Primary School receives ���enriching��� boost to its image

Digicel Foundation hands over completed Enrichment Room to improve literacy   Kingston, Jamaica – 30 September 2009: On Wednesday, September 30, Franklin Town Primary School, receives a boost to its image, as the Digicel Foundation, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, hands over its completed Enrichment Room. Fully refurbished and equipped by Digicel Foundation, the school is ready to seriously tackle the literacy problems its students are currently facing.   “The Digicel Foundation was happy to assist the Franklin Town Primary in addressing the literacy problems of their students. The school was identified by our partners, the Ministry of Education, as a school that was, not only struggling with their literacy rates on the Grade 4 tests, but also had the ability to improve, if given the right resources,” outlined Major General Robert Neish, Executive Director of the Digicel Foundation.   Located on Victoria Street in Kingston 16, “Franklin Town Primary caters to approximately 380 students and shares its property with a Special Education Unit, operated by School of Hope,” explains Principal Loxley Fearon.  Due to the presence of the School of Hope on the same property, there is a stigma that the school is primarily for students with mental or learning disabilities. Because of this, most of the students entering the school, at all grade levels, are not able to read.   With all these dynamics, the Enrichment Room will seek to positively challenge the kids in a more interactive and stimulating way and help improve the school’s literacy and numeracy levels. It also brings a burst of technology to the school, as prior to this, there were no computers available at the school. The school also faces a behavioural challenge particularly with the boys that are non-readers, who tend to distract and taunt the other students who are piped for learning.   Trained to be in the Enrichment Room, Teacher Mrs. Melissa Roberts expressed that, “I am excited that the students will have an opportunity to access the facility and the priceless resources in the room to their own betterment. Eventually, we want to host reading classes for persons from the community to come into the Enrichment Room, and benefit as well.” Mrs. Roberts participated in an extensive three-month training program, involving representatives of the three main streams of the Ministry of Education, i.e. Literacy, Numeracy and Special Education as well as the Special Educator of Jessie Ripoll Primary School, Sandra Maxwell-Williams. This training has equipped her with strategies on how to identify and treat each child’s area of weakness and also how to use the various literacy and numeracy software and hardware.   “The Enrichment Centre Initiative is tailored to meet both the needs of under-achievers, reading below their grade levels, and over-achievers, who require more educational challenges that are not presented in the normal classroom context,” commented Enrichment Initiative Coordinator, Dr. Michele Meredith-Dobbs from the Education Transformation Project in the Ministry of Education.   The Enrichment Room at Franklin Town Primary School is one of 13 such facilities that has been refurbished and equipped by the Digicel Foundation, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education. The rooms are equipped with Information Communication Technologies such as laptops, computers, literacy and numeracy software such as Hooked on Phonics, Early Success, and Master Reader, Hooked on Math, Math Manipulative Audio-Visual Headsets, TV Sets, DVD Players, among other

Franklin Town Primary School receives ���enriching��� boost to its image