Recently, we the Provo Primary School School Council had a super smashing time in South Caicos. The main purpose of our trip was to visit two schools that had been hit quite hard by Hurricanes Irma and Maria – The Calvary Christian School and The Iris Stubbs Primary School.
At school, we had been shown photos of the devastation that had occurred to the classrooms and school buildings. Having seen the damage, we wanted to help in some way.
We wanted to connect with the children and offer a hand of friendship from one school to another. So, it was decided that we would start a penpal outreach programme with the two schools.
We decided to ‘create’ gifts for each of the classes in the schools for the School Councillors to take with them. Much thought went into making these gifts and we ended up having a super selection of messages and information books to share, art activities for the children to complete and toy planes and Maths games for them to play with.
The responses from the pupils and teachers from both Calvary Christian School and Iris Stubbs Primary was wonderful. They were delighted to receive these thoughtful and creative gifts and enjoyed talking, working and playing together with the children from Provo Primary. There was much laughter and many smiling faces experienced throughout the whole day.
It was also really good to see and hear how well the schools are now doing. A lot of work has gone into making the schools functionable. There is still a lot of work to do, however the determination of the staff and the kindness of many others has allowed the schools to be open and running – it is truly amazing!
We thank the two schools for their hospitality and smiles shown to us throughout the day. We hope that we can keep this line of communication open and possibly forge future friendships and new connections.
Thank you to Mrs Laranda for making all the connections. Introducing us to her home town, her favourite place to fish and sharing some of her childhood stories and places. And also to Matt Bywater from the Sailrock Resort, for organising the transport to and from the island.
Well done to the School Councillors for representing Provo Primary with pride, sensitivity and kindness. You made me feel proud to be part of Provo Primary.
