Stella Maris to Reopen May 10th

As you know by now, about fifty schools reopened for in-person learning earlier this month, with another group set to start their phased-in approach on May tenth.  At the Stella Maris School in Belize City, preparations are underway for their re-opening in a couple of weeks. But even before then, teachers have been out doing individualised home visits with students who have regressed due to the pandemic shutdown him over a year ago. Principal Karema Arnold explains.

Karema Arnold

Karema Arnold, Principal, Stella Maris Primary School

“We know that our children have been out of school for a year and we know the level of regression that our children might encounter. So we proposed this phase in starting May tenth. Now what we’ve proposed is to do a half day, half class phase in. We will have half of the amount of students coming in in the morning and half coming in the afternoon. We don’t want to do an abrupt coming back where we will have the children here all day. So we are proposing to have them just for a few hours in the morning and have them gradually reintegrate back into the routine of coming to school – waking up in the morning, getting prepared and knowing that they are expected to come to school. Upon coming to school it is not to jump directly into the full fledged academic teaching, but we are proposing to integrate having them better understand the whole dynamics surrounding COVID.”