Ms Crabbe detailed several of the initiatives that are taking place at the Althea Scatliffe Primary School currently. Photo: VINO/File

Assistant Principal at ASPS, Ms Orlandette Crabbe, spoke with Virgin Islands News Online recently and explained that a main area of focus for the school currently is professional development for the teachers.

Consequently, one of the things that they had already implemented, was professional development at every level which essentially involved getting teachers ready for creating classrooms that offer the best practices in reading instruction.

The teachers have so far staged four sessions for the school year and are usually encouraged to give feedback after each session on how they were able to use the information within the classrooms and also to indicate what challenges still existed.

Workshops are then geared towards the needs they have expressed with weekly workshops already planned up to December.

There is currently an existing reading enrichment programme where volunteers come in from the community to work with "weak readers".

Ms Crabbe related that the aim of this exercise is to read with the student at their current reading level. As a result of a disparity with the reading levels of the other students in their age group, weaker students tend to have limited success in the classroom and subsequently develop a poor attitude towards reading.

It is hoped that the one-on-one sessions will not only increase their fluency and oral comprehension at reading but also help them to develop a good self-concept towards reading and an increased level of self-confidence as they develop their skills to enable them to read at a higher level.

Ms Crabbe explained that in an effort to reach more of the children, some additional community members have come out to volunteer, including Dr. Quincy Lettsome, Hon. Archibald Christian, Ms Tasha Bertie, who is a former guidance counsellor of the school as well as a few retired teachers.

She was keen to explain that the method works, noting that at times “in the classroom the teacher has twenty (students), and although you want to get to everybody, sometimes you can’t.” She added that this does not eliminate the help that the teacher is supposed to give in anyway.