‘I was born to teach’ - Crofts Hill Primary principal insists every child must learn

Nadine Small, principal of the Crofts Hill Primary and Junior High School in northern Clarendon, has implemented a special education programme at her school that appears to be paying dividends.

Small, who took the reins at the school in 2017, said the programme was implemented among grades two and three children last September.

"A number of parents came and express concerns that they don't think their children's needs were being met, and thought they would get better assistance at another school," Small said.

special intervention

Determined to do something about it, she submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Education to start a special intervention programme within the school. Following an assessment by a team from the ministry, a special education unit was placed at the school. Small said that since the programme started the students have been showing improvements. Even the parents who complained earlier before returned to say that they are seeing changes in their children.

"I do believe that every child can learn, they must learn something. They can't come through the school and don't learn something or else I get real miserable," Small said, even as she called for more involvement from the parents.

And with all the challenges facing the teaching profession, Small was asked if she would ever walk away from teaching. Her response was an emphatic no!

"I would never leave teaching. I was born to teach," she said.