STUDENTS at Logwood Basic, a small early childhood school tucked away in St Thomas, have been finding their creative sides, thanks to the exceptional talent of their teacher and principal Georgian Walker.

“The creative side comes out in the children because I get them to do a lot of things,” Walker said. “I think it is very important that you start them doing things like this at an early age because I see where it helps them with their learning.”

Walker, who has been head of the school since 2012, is known for assisting the four- and five-year-olds to create items from everyday materials found around the home.

“I utilise a lot of the everyday things such as rice, peas, macaroni and so on,” she said, while displaying a wide variety of items created from these products.

Walker’s talent is evident from the minute one enters the classroom, as the charts and other art work decorating the walls all around make it a most inviting place.

Also of note are the many beautiful teaching aids which Walker has personally made to assist the children with things such as telling the time to learning Spanish words.

“I really don’t like the ready-made charts, so I tend to make a lot of the learning aids, that way I can put whatever I want on it,” she told the Jamaica Observer North East.

Walker, who has been working with children for the last 14 years, said her most creative moments are before dawn as she is up by 3:00 every morning to prepare new teaching materials.

“I know this is a gift,” she said of her varied talents.

Not only does she have the opportunity to include the material she wants on the charts she makes, but Walker says it costs way less to make her own than to purchase ready-made ones.

The principal explained that her creative side first came out in church, however, she never had the chance to begin working with children until sometime later.

“I was working at a store and I saw some children passing by and I suddenly felt a yearning to be able to work with them,” she recalled.

That opportunity presented itself when she began teaching four-year-olds at her home during the summer holidays, followed by her first official teaching job at a preparatory school in the parish.

The principal’s position became vacant at Logwood after the then headmistress died and the parents began sending their children to other schools.

By the time Walker took up the position, there were only six children left, but it did not take long for her to win the confidence of the parents. Since then, the numbers have increased steadily to a population of 38, plus the additional nine who went to primary school this September.

Walker has also been bringing exposure to the unearthed talents of the students through the recent staging of a special heritage day celebration, which was opened to the community.

According to Walker, she went all out in preparing for the event, which was staged under the theme ‘Embracing the Culture, Big Up the Heroes’.

The day’s activities highlighted the life of national heroes Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle, Sir Alexander Bustamante and Nanny of the Maroons, as well the cultures of Jamaicans, Africans, Indians and the Chinese. Patrons were also able to have a taste of foods from the various cultures.

Walker said she came up with the idea to design a float, accompanied with cultural music as she believes children no longer get to benefit from these things.

And although it was only a short time to prepare she pulled out all stops to make it a success.

“The idea came to me about three weeks ago and I had a staff meeting and said this is what is in my head,” she explained, adding that she immediately set about sourcing the fabric for the float and got her sister to sew it.

Toys, crayons, and puzzles are donated to the school by Crayon Count, an organisation Walker said has been very supportive. However, outside of this, the parents have invested in the various stationary supplies for their children to excel.

Meanwhile, as many basic schools are forced to come up with more ingenious ways of finding funds to keep their doors open, Walker said her fundraisers are done with a difference. The latest such project will be the staging of a health fair for the community.

“The events that we do are not just ordinary because we don’t go for just the little concerts and things like that,” she explained.

Walker said they will be seeking to make the cost of seeing the doctor far more affordable so that more people can make use of the opportunity.