MANDEVILLE, Manchester – School leaders in Manchester and St Elizabeth were on Monday overjoyed at the full resumption of face-to-face classes, two years following the onset of the novel coronavirus, which halted physical learning, affecting scores of students in deep remote areas.

The leaders of Bellefield High, Christiana High, Lewisville High, Holland Primary, Kendal Primary and Mount Olivet Primary were pleased with the high turnout of students.

Principal of Bellefield High in Manchester Paul Grant said it was smooth sailing for his school.

“We are able to accommodate all of our students. We are a shift school. We have no issues. We were able to accommodate all students from grade seven to 12 on either shift,” he said.

Grant added that 80 per cent of the population of nearly 1,400 students had turned up for classes.

“We are seeing the students out. We are happy for the resumption of face-to-face… We had been suffering for approximately two years and our students are from remote (areas) where there is no Internet access,” he said.

Principal of Christiana High in Manchester Leecent Wallace said the school, which operates on a shift system, was well-prepared for the full resumption of face-to-face classes.

“The truth is that Christiana High School is more prepared than other schools, because we have not done any alterations to our timetable,” Wallace said.

He, however, noted that the school’s population has been reduced to just under 1,400 students due to fifth-formers not returning to school.

“The numbers have been trending down in total. We found that a number of our fifth-form students seemed to have been given the green light to come back, [but] a number of them have not returned. Based on our discoveries we learnt that quite a few of them have been employed. Some have migrated,” he explained.

Senior teacher at Mount Olivet Primary in Manchester Marie Hylton-Walker said it was smooth sailing at the school.

“More than 85 per cent of our students have turned out for classes… We had a seamless progression, in terms of [the students] coming in [as] things were already in place for them,” she said.

Principal of Kendal Primary in Manchester Maxcine Headley said she was elated to see the majority of students resume classes.

“Most students were out early. We had just a [small] percentage of the students late… I’m overwhelmed because I have been looking forward to back-to-school full-time face-to-face for a long while,” she said.

She also said the school has been lenient on parents who are having challenges with uniforms for their children.

“We are not hard-and-fast with children who are coming without uniforms for the first week or so, because we won’t be turning them back,” she said.

Deslin Parker, who took her six-year-old grandson Ackeem Williams to the Kendal Primary School, said she is elated for the full resumption.

“I feel nice to know that school is open. Sometimes you can’t use the tablets [for everything]. Mi just happy that school open so that him can learn,” she said.

Meanwhile, principal of Lewisville High in northern St Elizabeth Duken Williams said most of the 604 students enrolled turned up for classes.

“Because of the numbers we are able to have physical distance for the most part and the students are excited. There are some that we are seeing for the first time since [the onset of] COVID-19,” he said.

Principal of Holland Primary in St Elizabeth Simone Doctor said students are overjoyed to return to the classroom.

“It has been a good day, because we were actually phasing in the students over time and [now] we have the full cohort as we were well prepared. The students are pleased to be back at school and [are] blending well with their classmates,” she said.