MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Administrators of Villa Road Primary School have lauded the Garden Hotel for sponsoring the school’s weekly subscription of the Jamaica Observer’s Learning Corner as part of efforts to bolster literacy at the school.

Chief executive officer at the Garden Hotel Garfield Virgin, a past student of the institution, announced the initiative during Read Across Jamaica Day activities last Tuesday.

“It is a wonderful feeling. However, I am always here participating in whatever way I can. I truly believe that reading is the number one way of getting rid of illiteracy and reading from a tender age of maybe one or two. So it was a no-brainer to partner with the school to help through the Observer, which is a very brilliant paper, very interactive in terms of all articles in paper,” said Virgin.

He pointed to the benefits of the publication in preparation for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination.

“Partnering with the Jamaica Observer to ensure that these students can be more interactive, be able to read better, and to ensure that we have better results in PEP [to] ensure that they are better students at the end of all of this,” added Virgin as he pointed to the opportunities now available to the students of Villa Road Primary

“Comparing to my time and now, these children have far more privileges and with these technologies that are happening now, [and] reading is very important,” declared Virgin who was integral to the donation of a smart board to Villa Road Primary’s Grade 6 classroom.

“It makes teaching and learning much more interactive and that is how we have to engage these children in terms of finding different ways of interacting with them to ensure that we get better result in terms of teaching and learning and a part of that is a smartboard,” he said while emphasising the need to maintain a mixed approach to teaching and learning.

Chairman of the Villa Road Primary School Lyden “Trevor” Heaven lauded the leadership of Villa Road Primary School for continuously improving the learning environment at the institution.

“I like Villa Road, because of what it brings… Villa Road embraces the children who other schools refuse. During my tenure I am proud to say we have seen a significant uptick in the quality of our teaching and learning here…” said Heaven.

He also lauded Virgin for his philanthropic efforts at the school.

“The full recognition of his corporate responsibility as an entrepreneur, as a businessman within the community, it can only go well and it would encourage many others who are so minded to come on board.

“The enrolment is a little low now. We have huge capacity for growth and I would love to see that happening within the next few years. The Learning Corner [keeps] the students very engaged. It is very interactive and it creates an opportunity for learning not only by teaching, but through graphics. The Learning Corner I take off my hat to the editor of this magazine. The product of the Jamaica Observer, because I too learnt quite a bit as well,” added Heaven.

In the meantime, principal of Villa Road Primary School Brent James said the partnership between the Jamaica Observer and Virgin has made a fundamental difference at the institution.

“We want to give thanks to both entities, important stakeholders, Mr Virgin is an alumni and we are happy to have him on board as a stakeholder… The partnership extends beyond Read Across Jamaica Day, because we are trying to improve our literacy outcomes and we have a school with 242 students. The capacity can hold twice the amount and we know that once we get the matrix right we can see greater enrolment taking place,” said James.

“We have been sharing the paper [Learning Corner] with grade six students because they were preparing for PEP. The feedback has been very positive from both teachers and students and, of course, parents,” added James.

Villa Road Primary grade six students Nakiea Campbell (left) and Marquis Campbell enjoying the Jamaica Observer’s Learning Corner on Tuesday. Kasey Williams

Villa Road Primary grade six students Chrisantonio Chung (left) and Dequan Simpson enjoying the Jamaica Observer’s Learning Corner on Tuesday. Kasey Williams