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Edutech Update

The school as you know is a part of the Ministry of Education's Edutech 2000 project. This year and part of next year Foundation School will be a hive of activity as carpenters, masons, engineers, technicians and other men and women of every profession descend on it with the intention of making it Edutech 2000 compliant. 

Seen here is the prefab buildings being constructed to house the senior students, when work commences there.

  Here is the main office and store room for the contractor. As you can see by the construction of the building that they will be here for some time. 

The roof of the entire school will be changed and the current hall demolished. If I understand the drawing correctly, the eternal pond may not be so eternal after all. At least not in it's current form. The new hall will be quite large, encompassing the current hall space as well as the art room and the food and nutrition room. On the first floor there will be a balcony for additional seating, rooms for sound equipment, the MIS room and other special purpose rooms.

The library will be moved from its current location along the corridor by the hall and relocated to the currently vacant space between the sports prefab building and the music prefab building. Thus creating one very long prefab building.

There will of course be refurbishments and changes in the ceilings, doors and windows etc. Unfortunately we were unable to persuade the planners to construct a pavilion or repair the tennis courts. These will have to be done through our own efforts. As there is currently no lawn tennis teacher; and there has not been for over 5 years, there is no great loss there.

Sports Day

Published on: 2/18/06 by The Nation Newspaper

by SHERRYLYN CLARKE

THE FINAL event of the day decided the champions at the Foundation School's inter-house sports at the National Stadium yesterday.

With one event to go, six-time defending champions Wellington (Red) trailed Inniss (Blue) by eight points. It was almost a foregone conclusion that Wellington would win the race, but to win again, Inniss had to finish fourth or fifth.

Wellington went on to win the relay – they won both the junior sprint medleys and the senior 4x400 metres – but Inniss would not be denied, finishing second and claiming the title for the first time since 1998 with 913.3 points.

There was an eruption of blue as they celebrated, the banner screaming "Too Long In the Cold, Inniss Going for Gold". Wellington was heart-breakingly close, just five points off, followed by Skeete (700.3), Lynch (648) and Talma (517.3).

Five records were broken, including several field events at the school. Jamar Greenidge of Skeete posted 36.72 metres in the Under-17 B oys' discus, while CARIFTA gold medallist Kyann Maynard (formerly of Coleridge and Parry), set a new record of 34.79 metres in the Under-20 G irls' javelin.

Maynard also ran a very good leg on the backstretch to bring her team from last to second before anchor Nikita Clarke brought the Under-20 G irls' home in a new record of 53.99 seconds, down from 55.40. The junior boys sprint medley team was also in record-breaking form, clocking 1 minute, 56.88 seconds.

Wellington's Richelle Farley also set a new time of 1:01.82 in the Under-17 G irls' 400 metres, running with her left hand bandaged. The other record went to the Lynch Under-17 B oys, 46.98 seconds in the 4x100 metres.

Kemar Craigwell of Wellington also took the victor ludorum title with 64 points. Competing in Division Three, he won the 400 metres (58.54 seconds); 100 (12.41); 800 (2:36.87); 1500 (5:34.34) and the 200 (24.74). He was second in the long jump with 5.10 metres and third in the shot put with 9.78.

The victrix ludorum title went to Amaris Chase of Wellington with 77 points. She won the high jump (1.45 metres); 800 (3:05.91); 1500 (6:47.54) and 3000 (15:39.08). She was second in the 400 metres (1:05.07), and also picked up points in the 100, 200, shot put, long jump, triple jump, discus and javelin.

Mention must also be made of Skeete's Cherisse Lynch who missed out by five points. She only won the 400 metres (1:06.12) and the high jump at 1.32 metres, but also picked up points in most of the events.

Division Champions

Division One Girls: Kelly Brown (Inniss) 69 points

Division One Boys: Daniel Lovell (Lynch) 47

Division Two Girls: Amaris Chase (Wellington) 77

Division Two Boys: Kieron Austin (Skeete) 56

Division Three Girls: Cherisse Lynch (Skeete) 72

Division Three Boys: Kemar Craigwell (Wellington) 64

Division Four Girls: Ashley Roberts (Skeete) 60

Division Four Boys: Richard Pinder (Lynch) 53

Victrix Ludorum: Amaris Chase

Victor Ludorum: Kemar Craigwell

Download: Last Race movie clip.

More sports day pictures. Click for larger image.

CSME meets Foundation

A GROUP of Christ Church Foundation School students have brought not only pride to their school, but hope as well.

The school's CARIYOUTH chapter was recently awarded the 2005 Hope Award, a national youth award in recognition of their contribution to the development of the individual, organisation and the secondary school community.

They took the top prize over 11 schools.

The students said they were happy with their win but it came as a surprise to their advisor, Annette Maynard-Watson.

"I was shocked because we are only one year old. Some of the groups that were nominated had been doing it for five years," she told the SUNDAY SUN last Monday when a team visited the school.

However, the students said they put in a lot of hard work learning about some of the challenges of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Once they had the information, they had to come up with various ways to share it and engage others in discussion on the matter.

"It was a lot of hard work," Teven Haynes, a member of the group, said. His fellow group members nodded their heads in agreement.

"To know more about the CSME, there was a lot of work to do. It calls for a lot of research, and reading the books that Miss Watson gave us and going online," Kissa Waldron added.

The students said they were able, through weekly meetings, to interact with teachers from all parts of the region - including Haiti, where they learnt about some of the challenges other countries faced.

While they admit working as part of CARIYOUTH has given them a chance to learn more about the region, they still don't view CSME as a band-aid for all of the island's problems, especially at the school level.

"Right now in school, the number of students who go to the clubs are smaller than the group of students who curse the teacher, mark up and destroy the furniture - the new furniture - so do you think CSME can really help that?" Walron asked.

Another student, Ashlyn Scott-Williams, said she was worried that crime would become more of an issue and may reach the levels it is at in Jamaica and Trinidad once the region gets more involved in CSME.

Despite these concerns, the students said they were committed to ongoing activities - including symposiums, hosting a poor people dinner, having motorcades, holding church services, and a trip to St Lucia - as ways of bringing their school together as well as to continue learning and sharing with their regional counterparts.

School principal Robert Cumberbatch said he was pleased that students were willing to participate in positive activities.

"I feel proud. It counters the negativity that you sometimes hear with respect

to the youth," he said.

He added that the students' efforts highlighted the need for young people to find ways to access information on their level and use it among themselves.

Mr. and Miss Foundation 2006

Cast your votes for your choice of Mr. and Miss Foundation for 2006. The contestants are.

Christina Bryan	Tiffany Farrell	Shane Weekes
Ay'sha Joseph	Karon Odle	Alyssa Harewood
Sabrina Estwick	Terry Trotman	Shane Alleyne

The show comes off at the Olympus Theatre in Sheraton Mall on March 19th at 6:00PM. 

Foundation in Canadian Government

A BAJAN MOTHER of three children who has spent most of her adult life in Canada wants to become a member of that country's House of Commons in Ottawa.

Patricia Whittaker, 48, is the Liberal Party's candidate in the Delta-Richmond East riding in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is going up against John Cummings, the conservative incumbent who has been in parliament for the past 12 years.

Two Caribbean women, Whittaker and Dr Hetty Frye, a Trinidadian, are running in tomorrow's election on the Liberal ticket in Vancouver. Frye, a physician, has already served three terms in the Commons.

Whittaker said that she entered the race because of a desire to help people.

"I believe in public service," she said. "The fact that so many things that people need are not being addressed encouraged me to get into politics."

A former student of Foundation and Combermere Schools, she is the daughter of retired Barbados Assistant Commissioner of Police Keith Whittaker and Sheila Whittaker. Until recently, she sat as an elected trustee of the Richmond School Board in Vancouver, the first Black woman elected to that position.

"No one goes into a race to lose and I am very confident I am going to win this," she said in a recent interview with the SUNDAY SUN.

"It's a very challenging race but one that should not be ignored or downplayed. I entered this race confident in my ability to capture the riding, defeating my Conservative party opponent and I am going to succeed," Whittaker said.

But the candidate - who speaks English, French and Spanish, and who left Barbados in 1977 - admits to an impediment in her race for the House. It is a lack of an adequate campaign chest and she is mounting a fund-raising drive to bring in the CAN$70 000 she needs to conduct a credible political drive.

"We are a far way from $70 000 to run a really effective campaign," she said. "This is about our fourth election (in British Columbia), a federal election 18 months ago, followed by a provincial election, followed by a municipal election and we are now into another federal election.

"So, there is a maximum that people can actually donate personally and corporately. People are 'maxed out' in British Columbia when it comes to supporting political campaigns and it has been very difficult to fundraise," said Whittaker.

With the Liberal Party giving its candidates no financial help to run, Whittaker is virtually on her own.

"There is a myth. I have heard extensively in the community that the Liberal Party finances these campaigns," she said.

As for her campaign platform, the Barbadian-Canadian vowed that once in the Commons, she would be "working hard to enhance programmes for immigrants in the areas of job placement" and recognition of foreign credentials. She would also push for a better transportation arrangement for refugees in Canada.

"I know from personal experience the challenges immigrants, the new Canadians, face every day," she said.

And with immigrants accounting for almost 30 per cent of the voters in the riding, Whittaker, an entrepreneur who started and runs her own business, Dynamicskills, which teaches etiquette and social values to young people, is convinced she has an advantage over her opponent, who she contends is hardly known in the immigrant community in the large riding.

"He has been in parliament for a dozen years and doesn't relate to a large section of the riding," she said.

But immigrant programmes are only a part of Whittaker's campaign platform and political agenda.

The mother of a teenage daughter and two sons, 11 and 12 years old, wants Ottawa to provide British Columbia and other provinces with the financial help needed to maintain a top-notch health care system.

"There is a lot of support to ensure that the federal government sends down transfers to the provinces in order to ensure that the quality of life, the health care of the citizens is a great one," was the way she put it.

Whittaker also thinks senior citizens should be given a better deal.

"Certainly, health care, affordable housing and social programmes for seniors have to be addressed," she added.

The Bajan strongly supports her party's environmental policy designed "to protect and preserve our rich inheritance of land, water and wildlife". In addition, she believes the Liberals' economic and anti-crime programmes are on target.

Foundation Forum for online discussions with other old scholars.

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