School calls

IT WAS a typical first day of school with all the ingredients to make it so.
New uniforms, bags, shoes, classes, different environments, strange faces, anxious students, fussing parents, reunited friends and the list is inexhaustible.
Parents accompanying children were the norm across the island and the broad smiles spoke of the pride they all felt. Many paused to take candid shots on cameras and cellphones of the first day for posterity.
An air of sadness put a cloud on the first day brightness at St Mary’s Primary School.
The school is mourning the loss of former senior teacher Nkosazana Ri’Shayla Juan Forte-Chandler, whose dream of becoming a principal was a reality for a mere seven days. (YB)