FALMOUTH, Trelawny — School officials are keeping their fingers crossed that work will be completed on hurricane-damaged Refuge Primary School in Trelawny by this weekend so students will not have to use pews inside the Catholic church and three tents in the yard for much longer.

On Monday, grade one students were accommodated at Refuge Basic School and sixth graders had classes inside the church. The plan for Tuesday is to house students from grades two to five under tents.

“The school is still under repair and the children are being accommodated in more than one location, just for today. The grade one students are at the Refuge Basic School, along with some teachers. They are engaged in the GOILP (Grade One Individual Learning Profile), while the grade six students are at the Catholic church,” Principal Helena Anderson Mayne told the Jamaica Observer during a visit on Monday.

She explained that on the first day of the new school term, grade six students would benefit from psychosocial support and leadership development sessions.

“The grades two, three, four and five will come in on Tuesday, September 3 to be accommodated by the tents provided by the Ministry of Education. They have been provided three tents, portable [toilets] and hand washing stations. So while they are working we are engaging the children in the business of teaching and learning and ensuring that the teachers are ready. And we are modifying the curriculum to ensure that the children don’t miss out on any learning,” Anderson Mayne assured.

She is hopeful that repairs will be completed by this weekend so the school can accommodate its 123 students, six teachers and herself.

“The contractor has given us a week and a half to be completed but we realise that the work is going faster now that we have material. We were hampered by the lack of material,” Anderson Mayne said.

Nahilia Hall, whose daughter was experiencing her first day of primary school education on Monday, expressed appreciation for the makeshift accommodation at the basic school but questioned why repairs started so late.

“My thing is why it took so long to sort out this whole thing? [Hurricane] Beryl was from early July. You have the latter part of July and the whole of August and then when school is to start now they don’t ready. However, I’m hoping that the school will be better after repairs,” she said.

“They said there was some need for repairs that wasn’t done. So I am just being patient and hopeful about this,” Hall added.

Repairs were also ongoing at the 122-year-old Falmouth All-Age School on Monday, a welcome development for the school’s board chair Dionne Campbell.

“We are happy for this well-needed renovation because the school had a lot of issues before. So we are very thankful,” she said.

There was extensive damage to the school’s roof as well as other less severe but just as concerning issues. Campbell and Kirk Spencer, the school’s principal, are hopeful that repairs to the school’s two blocks will be completed by the weekend.

According to Spencer, three classrooms on the old block — those used by the first graders and one third grade class — are currently being repaired. While work is being done the grade three students are sharing space with the other classes on the new block.

For the rest of this week, grade one students doing the GOILP — which will determine their academic level and how they are streamlined — will sit those tests at the Trelawny Parish Library. The tests will be done in phases.

“Twelve students per day will sit the examinations this week,” Campbell explained.

“The exam is necessary for them to actually start their primary education, so that cannot be put back,” she added.

Spencer stressed that everything will be done to keep students safe as construction goes on.

“We have rostered the teachers to monitor the children while they are out, while they are at play, that they do not venture into the construction zone. Things are not the way that we would actually want it now but the work that is going on, it is a wonderful thing. It is something that we were wishing for, for some time. We are happy that it is being completed now,” he said.

“Despite the circumstances we are pleased to have the students out. There are only approximately 190 days in the school year. And were we to push back the reopening, despite the work that is going on, it would be robbing the children of valuable contact time. So we opted to open, to have the children coming in despite the fact that it is a construction zone,” the principal reasoned.

According to Karlene Segre, regional director at the Ministry of Education and Youth, Region 3, other schools in Trelawny undergoing repairs include William Knibb Memorial High, Westwood High, Refuge Primary, Falmouth Primary, Clark’s Town Primary, Unity Primary, and Waldensia Primary.

“The dedicated leadership teams in these schools have devised innovative strategies to engage students to continue their education, even in challenging circumstances,” Segre told the Observer.

“The ministry of education through the regional office of education officers and the regional building officer are committed to providing the necessary support to all schools, teachers, and students as they navigate this recovery phase. By fostering resilience, courage, and leadership, we can ensure that our students emerge from this experience stronger and better prepared for the future,” she added.