Parkinson's Secondary School visited
Bagatelle Nursery school armed with an enormous basket of Christmas
gifts for the pupils.
Make Jesus Smile shoe boxes were
distributed compliments of the United Caribbean Trust Christmas
initiative.
Parkinson's students
helped to distribute the boxes all packed by the children
of Barbados.
Compliments of the Nation
News Date
February 04, 2008
SIXTY PRE-SCHOOL children from Haynesville
and Bagatelle nurseries will be "leaping" into the
literacy phase thanks to joint efforts by the National Library
Service and the Child Care Board.
The initiative entitled Leap Into Reading is aimed at developing
a culture of reading among toddlers enrolled at Government
day nurseries.
That is according to senior tutor in education at Erdiston
Teacher Training College, Patricia Saul, who addressed a small
gathering assembled for the launch of the programme at the
Haynesville Day Nursery and Children's Home, in Haynesville,
St James
The programme adheres to and extends the National
Policy On Reading established by the Ministry of Education in June
2007 under the former Government.
"The three-tiered programme . . . is designed to build literacy
skills from three perspectives. It has a pre-school literacy component,
a staff literacy component, and a family literacy component,"
Saul said.
She emphasised that since young children were initiated into reading
and writing through early "observation and interaction"
with others as they engaged in literacy activities, it was essential
to establish a network of persons to nurture this. In light of the
"changing dynamics in the society" where toddlers spent
a great deal of time with pre-school caregivers, Saul said, the
Leap Into Reading programme would be invaluable.
Minister of Community Development and Culture, Steve Blackett,
who attended the function, said that the literacy programme was
in keeping with Government's mandate "to educate, train, motivate
and mobilise all of its people to build a just society and a well
organised nation". (MS)
