OCHO RIOS, St Ann - Quietly, almost unannounced, a privately-run institution in this resort town has, for the past two years, been an oasis for youngsters with behavioural problems and/or academic difficulties.

The Positive Behaviour Support Centre (PBSC) was the brainchild of Clifford Senior, a counsellor at William Knibb Memorial High School in Trelawny and an ordained minister of religion.

A group of students at the Positive Behaviour Support Centre in Ocho Rios.

The facility has been accepting students who have been referred by schools - such as St Hilda's, Ferncourt and Ocho Rios High - as well as by parents who want their children to be guided on a path to success and by the Ministry of Education. The centre caters to both slow learners and those who have achieved academic excellence, and so far the results have been encouraging.

Located at 25 James Avenue, the PBSC caters to students from the primary school system, as well as youngsters who have dropped out of high school - maybe at grade nine. Then there are those who have completed school up to 11th grade but are not completely happy with their scores. PBSC also caters to students who are enrolled at other educational institutions but need help in a particular subject area.
There are now 40 students enrolled.

"We started mainly with counselling," Senior said. "Working in the high school as a counsellor there was a spill-off and we started what we call a Positive Behaviour Support Centre. It takes an approach at looking at a behaviour that is positive - skill development, talent development, that sort of thing - in order to treat behaviours that are inappropriate."

He added: "We take basically any age group as long as we can help them to identify somewhere they want to reach and a programme that will work for them.

A very strong part of our programme is finding out what is interesting to a particular individual and working from there."
When a students enters PBSC, the first step is determining exactly what he hopes to gain from the experience.
There is no shortage of options.

From general subjects such as Math, English, Principles of Business, Social Studies as well as Human and Social biology up to CXC level, to practical fields such as computer, music, drama or sport.
Once enrolled, students are exposed to a variety of teaching methods aimed at helping them achieve their goals.

Among these is what Senior calls the high school advantage programme, which offers step-by-step lessons along with personalised self-paced exercises.
There is also a study centre where students are taken through syllabuses and are given SBA assistance.

All subjects are on video cassettes and there are computer-aided learning programmes where subjects are on compact discs.
"We encourage peer tutoring - studies with people of the same age group, sitting down together and saying, 'let me show you how to do this', and so on," Senior explained.

"And then we have qualified facilitators, who come in on different evenings, for Math, Principles of Business, Social Studies and so on. Individual consultation and counselling is done for different subject areas, we help with research and help with career services, and we provide lectures and seminars."

Senior, who has been in the educational field for the last 20 years, began at Ocho Rios High where he taught music, Social Studies and Family Life Education. He later went into counselling, from a ministerial background, working with the youth.

He said most of the students who attend do not pay for the services provided by the centre, which costs about $60,000 a month. There is no financial help from the state but Senior explained that the facility receives some level of support from its partners. These funds go towards covering expenses.

"We do get some donations, but not on a consistent basis," he said.
Now, one of the main objectives is to establish a permanent home for the centre. Senior is hoping he will be able to lease a section of land by the end of the year, while keeping his eyes on and the long-term plan to construct a building for the facility.

Up close with Heineken Green Synergy finalists

Merritone looks to the future

Beenie Man arrives late for function to honour athletes; apologises