Frustrated, angry, and demanding answers.
That was the mood among parents of Wesley Hall Junior School pupils this morning, as confusion marred the start of the new school year at the satellite locations set up to house students during major refurbishment works.
At the YMCA, parents complained there were no teachers on hand to receive the children. Others said they were completely in the dark about the conditions inside the classrooms.
“We don’t even know if the place has proper ventilation, or if the building is structurally safe for our children,” one parent told Barbados TODAY.
Over at Whitepark Wesleyan Holiness, tempers flared when parents were uncertain whether classes were being held at the church or at its nearby headquarters.
“Teachers were calling parents, walking their children to the church, to come to the headquarters instead,” another parent recounted. “How can that be a proper arrangement? We weren’t sure if school was at the church or the headquarters and if you look at the headquarters, them now got to build a gate and windows in that building lick out. This ain’t right.”
Some insisted the building was not fit for learning.
The Ministry of Educational Transformation, in a press release issued over the weekend, confirmed that Wesley Hall had been left out of the summer repair programme and was instead scheduled for extensive refurbishment beginning in January 2026. Following consultations, however, officials agreed to accelerate the project to start during the first term of the 2025/26 school year.
To facilitate this, Classes 1 and 2 were assigned to the YMCA, while Classes 3 and 4 were relocated to the Whitepark Wesleyan Holiness Church.
The ministry thanked staff and parents for their cooperation during what it described as a “transitional period” and pledged that students and teachers will return to a revitalised Wesley Hall Junior School in Term 2. (SZB)
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