Students at Victor Scott Primary School received a much needed boost to their educational experience, with the donation of much needed school supplies, in the form of books, courtesy of SPS.bm.
Principal Kennelyn Smith was overjoyed with the gifting, noting how many item that had to be disposed of as a result of the Covid pandemic, with the donation going a long ways toward replenishing stocks.
“The need is definitely great, especially after returning to school after the pandemic,” explained Ms Smith. “During the pandemic we had to get rid of a lot of the things we had in the classroom, such as the carpet, some of the games, some of the library books.
“This gives us the opportunity to replenish some of those things and get back to normalcy. It is a great opportunity.”
Also appreciative of the supplies, which were presented by Julianna Snelling, a lawyer and founder of SPS.bm, were many bright-eyed students.
“The students are very very excited,” said Ms. Smith. “Especially, the art supplies, which will go a long way towards helping restore our art programme.
“We have a lot of artistic students in our school.” The principal added how the second term was progressing well.
“Things are going along very nicely,” she said. “The students have reactivated to our new normalcy of the routines they are now thriving in everything that they do, so this provides a real boost to what they already have in the classroom and give the uplift to the teachers.
“It also helps the parents out, because they were also impacted by the pandemic financially, as supplies were short, so this goes a long way to helping the children that did not have those things.” She told of an additional need for assistance in improving the staff room area.
“We are in the process of revamping our staff room, so we need those things that will aid us there and help the staff feel a little more comfortable during their down time.
“We are also getting ready to start a garden project through one of our community partners, so we are just looking to really grow that idea and our music teacher it’s looking to uplift our program now that we can have instruments in the building, so those are the areas we can use help in.”
The only person with a greater smile than the students was Ms Snelling, who was overwhelmed by the reception.
Ms Snelling told of how the giving started through a think tank held at the Bermuda College.
“In 2018 or thereabouts I was participating in a think tank at Bermuda College,” she began. “We were asked to come together as a community and brainstorm as to what could be done to improve public education and one of the things of the five main tenants of the Bermuda Government Strategic Plan was to have the instructional resources that we need for students.
“And that was an area where I thought I could make a difference. I cannot improve our teachers or improve the quality of teaching.
“I cannot do anything big like that. I have to leave that to the experts, but as far as tools and equipment I could mobilize the Bermuda community to give.
“And that’s just what has happened for the last five years and I’m just happy to keep this going, thanks to huge corporate sponsors like the Bank of Butterfield.
They are encouraging other companies to give and now other companies like Ariel, Argus, the Green family, they’ve given, as have Lancashire and Chubb, so it’s his catching on.
“Then you also have children havin birthdays who ask for school supplies instead of presents and show up at my office, Canterbury Law, with supplies out of the blue. “As people you can see the joy on the children’s faces when they see their supplies showing up.
“I often get tired and wonder if I can keep going, but then when you have Ariel Re show up at St George’s Prep yesterday for the first time giving and then say that we are going to increase their budget and renew each year, that puts a spring in my step.”
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