BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Cotton Thomas Comprehensive School is appealing to people in the communities and business entities in St. Kitts and Nevis to make much-needed miscellaneous donations that would assist the students in their learning process.
The school is also making an appeal for business entities to adopt the learning institution.
Making the appeal on behalf of the school was its Principal, Charmaine Blanchette.
She made the appeals on Friday (Jan. 3) following a donation made to the school by the St. Kitts-Nevis Association of Houston.
The school has been in operation for over 30 years and caters to children from ages four to 21, and currently caters to 110 students who are mentally challenged, hearing, visually and physically impaired.
The students are taught academics and vocational skills.
Listing a number of vital items needed for the proper training of the students, Blanchette said that the school is in dire need of beds and coverings, sewing machines, pots and pans, plates and utensils, table cloths, microwave, iron and ironing board and recreational toys.
She said that they also need sporting materials, as sports is used as a form of discipline and stimulation for the children who learn, among other things, patience and fair play.
Blanchette also said that as part of their vocational skills, the school has a Home Economics Centre where the students are taught cooking, table setting, bed making and other lessons.
She further said that the Home Economics Centre is also in need of a washing machine because the previous one had served its time and is now not functional.
The Principal explained that the children are also taught how to wash both by hand and washing machine, and this process includes teaching them how to properly separate the clothes before washing them.
"We do all of that because, let's face it, when they get out there they just might get a laundry job. So we have to teach them how to do those things," she said.
She said that they focus a lot on vocational skills because most of the students are not academically inclined.
"Vocation skills include self-help skill and life skills like what they do at home and we focus on that because sometimes when they leave here the only job they get is working in a restaurant. With that, they would need to know how to set the table, clean the dishes properly, socialise with people, say good morning and how are you, instead of giving this great big bear hug when it is not necessary.
"They need to know how to use the public utilities such as the buses and the bathrooms at the airport. They also learn how to fill out their forms when they get to the airport because they do travel, especially for Special Olympics," the Principal explained.
Blacnhette said that the students' academics lessons follow the curriculum which include Mathematics, Reading and Science, but focuses mainly on Reading.
"Our main focus is on Reading and it’s usually Functional Reading so that when our students leave the school they can function in society. We don't expect them to go up to university level in Reading, but as far as they can go we take them there. We also teach them Functional Maths. We do money, time, measuring those things that we know they would need when they get out into the world of work," she explained.
The Principal said that the children are being taught how to sustain themselves when they go out into the world on their own, and that the items needed would greatly assist in giving them help to learn those life lessons.
"We do these vocational skills to help them to be independent so they don't have to depend on other people to do these things for them. We also want them to be productive in society, in their communities and in their homes, so we take them to their highest potential. That is why we really need these vocational stuff to help them," Blanchette said.
“Along with our day-to-day schooling, we also offer therapy. We do have a rehabilitation therapist who is stationed here and people from the pre-school, out in the community, from the other primary schools, would come and do their daily therapy and go back to their schools, etc.,” she added.
The Principal made an appeal for businesses in the private sector to consider adopting the school, adding that the process needs not be an elaborate one, but one that would assist the school in its time of need.
She explained that the adoption could also be done collectively, in that two or more businesses could take on the venture.
"In order for our students to get the services that they really need, we need somebody to adopt us. Of course, the [Education] Ministry is doing what it could but even the Ministry sometimes needs the help of the private sector to get the work going."
Blanchette also explained that the form three students usually go out on job attachments during the second term of school and she called on institutions to accept them, as they need the experience that would assist them later in life.
"Sometimes the institutions would give them a little stipend, but if they cannot give them, that is alright with us. We just want them to gain the work experience," she added.
The Principal can be reached at the school at 466-0038.
