Turning Loss into Opportunity

With schoolchildren having to forego this year’s usual sports activities, North Side Primary School decided to turn loss into opportunity and stage a “Reading Olympics.”

“Under normal circumstances we would now be busy travelling to other schools to compete, but with Hurricane Ivan upsetting the whole school year, that can’t happen this year,” said Principal Mazelyn Curtis.

So instead of letting it get them down, the first ‘event,’ a Reading Marathon, took place on Tuesday, 15 February.

Attending the marathon, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Education Mary Rodrigues congratulated the staff on their initiative: “Reading is a crucial part of learning and this new approach to motivate children to read will certainly enhance the education process. It is also a part of our recovery to go beyond pure academics and give children a creative opportunity to do better in school,” she said.

North Side Primary suffered considerable damage during Ivan and still operates out of the North Side Civic Centre. They also lost most of their books when the library roof was destroyed. “For the marathon we borrowed books from other schools and had teachers and children bring books from home to obtain enough reading material,” said Ms Curtis.

The Reading Olympics will continue until the end of June. Several more ‘Olympic events’ will be held, each one focusing on a different subject.