AS Black River Primary and Infant School steps up its post-Hurricane Melissa recovery efforts, additional support has come from Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby and partners, giving Primary Exit Profile (PEP) students a boost in their preparations for upcoming exams.

The school was among many damaged when the Category 5 storm ravaged sections of the country in October last year.

Speaking during a ceremony to hand over learning tools on the school grounds last Wednesday, Swaby noted that providing assistance to the institution remains a priority for him.

“Last year, some days after the hurricane, I came to Black River. I didn’t come over to the school; I went into the community. And the devastation that happened at the school, I said to myself, ‘I have to lend my support to the school that made me who I am.’

School administrators and students gather at Black River Primary and Infant school for Kingston and St Andrew Mayor Andrew Swaby’s handover of books to PEP students. 

At the time, we couldn’t have done nothing because it required certain things. And I promised myself that whenever the school is up and running, I’ll be lending some support to the school. So luckily, when they called to say the school is ready for my support, I went to work and I asked some persons for some help towards the school,” Swaby explained.

“Our concentration today is mainly about the PEP students, especially the ones that haven’t yet received their textbooks. We have bought some books for those persons, we have bought other books and other things, and also, we have had some things for the sporting department because we believe that we should try our best to normalise our kids. Even though what happened we can’t forget it, we need to have their minds active somewhere else to go back to normalcy,” he added.

In welcoming the initiative the school’s principal, Sharon Whyte, noted that the absence of books among students posed a challenge for the institution.

“Some students have not received all their books and so they wouldn’t be able to work as fast as the others who have books; and when they get homework, they wouldn’t be able to do it — they would have to photocopy pages in order to get their work done,” she said, adding that the school’s PEP results remained strong despite the challenges.

A classroom at Black River Primary and Infant school still being repaired after being destroyed during the passage of Hurricane Melissa last October. 

“Last year, after Melissa, we first took back the grade six students because they had to do their examination. Then we took back the grade five, and then the grade four, because those three grades would be the PEP students. We wanted them to be at an advantage and compete with other students in Jamaica, because it’s the same exam they are doing. And, I’m proud to say that we did very well last year in our exam,” said White.

Giving an update on the school’s reconstruction efforts, the school administrator noted that although work continues on some classrooms, in-person classes have resumed.

“Right now, apart from the grade six and grade four block that is not completed, all the roof for the other buildings are on. We have work to be done inside the classroom, inside the canteen, and around. But all of our students are back [to receiving] face-to-face [instruction], which is very important to us. So today I just want to say thanks to all the sponsors that are here,” she said.

The institution resumed full operations one week after the scheduled start of the 2026-27 school year, following ongoing repair work to accommodate its approximately 800 students.