Unfinished construction work resulted in pupils of Wesley Hall Junior School in Kings Street, The City, having a very short return yesterday for the first day of school.
As such, the full “first day” is now rescheduled for tomorrow, as the work is to be completed today.
Yesterday during a tour of St Mary’s Primary School on Mason Hall Street, also in The City, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Transformation Kim Belle gave an explanation.
“We wanted to do a more significant upgrade to the entire plant and that included paving of the exterior. For those of you who may be familiar with the school plant, when you come in, it was not very welcoming. In terms of when you drive into the school, you find a lot of rubble, etcetera, so we are in the preparatory stages of having it paved,” she said.
This, she added, was where the issue presented itself.
She said the contractors realised they had broken a sewerage line that ran across the school entrance, which delayed the work while they dealt with it, but it was not completed properly.
“When it was completed, we had the commitment that the paving would be completed over the weekend. That did not take place. We are trying to settle now with the firm to come back today (yesterday) to have it done. And so, as you would appreciate, if it is just rolled, you are still going to get, as vehicles move and as the wind blows, you are going to get wind kicking up dust. So we made a decision, having gone there [yesterday] morning, to let the staff and students go back home so that we can get that settled.”
Like brand new
In addition, she said snag work – the final quality control inspection and repair process used to find and fix minor defects, incomplete tasks or cosmetic damage before a building is officially handed over – was not done, but the contractor responsible for that, who was also present at St Mary’s, had assured them the school would be ready by tomorrow.
Despite the setbacks, Belle said the school was like a brand new one, with previously unused rooms now in use, the school hall now fit for its purpose, a principal’s office in its proper location, the staff quarters “significantly enhanced” and a general refurbishment and upgrading of the entire plant.
“We’ve been doing work on Wesley Hall Junior School since last year September 2025. That school, being one of our oldest primary schools, needed a lot of work, so we took the decision last year that we needed to strip it, especially the two-storey building that was in dire need of repair. So we stripped it, built it back up and if you go to the site now, you will see that the entire plant has been upgraded significantly.
“When the staff and the students return [tomorrow], they will be more settled . . . because we have really ensured that we have more comfortable spaces for the students and the staff. So that is why we would have had a bit of a hitch this morning, but the contractor has committed to [finishing by] Wednesday, and once we can also get the other firm that is doing the paving on the outside to commit to starting today – I have asked them to do so as there is no school for the balance of the day so come, get it done, so that will then cinch everything together,” she said.
Belle said, based on the reports from parents, some of whom were past students so they knew what the plant used to be like before, they were “really pleased” with the level of upgrades. (CA)
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