Schools across Barbados over the next two days continue to commemorate the island’s 46th anniversary of Independence with a series of cultural programmes and activities.
At Eden Lodge Nursery School, Barbadian culture will take over the grounds today at 10:30 a.m., with the arrival of the tuk band and two popular calypsonians, Blood and Popsicle.
Tomorrow, the tiny tots will perform their own songs, poems and dances while enjoying an Independence concert under the theme Proud Barbadians.
Teachers at the Government Hill Nursery School will today take their young charges on an educational Independence tour of Pelican Village to view the art and craft on display by vendors. Tomorrow, the children will perform a number of recitations, dances, songs and mount a display of artefacts. The day will also see the Parent-Teacher Association selling delicacies, including fishcakes, bakes, conkies and sugar cakes.
The nearby Charles F. Broome Primary will host Bajan Story Telling Day today from noon for Classes 3 and 4, having already done a similar programme last week for the younger age groups. Tomorrow at 9:30 a.m., there will be a cultural atmosphere as children dressed in national colours participate in an Independence quiz, display things of yesteryear, and enjoy Bajan goodies.
Westbury Primary School students will also host an Independence quiz today, and its Bajan Day tomorrow, when students and teachers will wear the Independence colours and enjoy Bajan food and drinks. Both activities get under way at 10 a.m.
Tomorrow at Arthur Smith Primary School, the grounds will come alive with the strains of Sing Out Barbados, popular calypsonians and the 1688 Orchestra Band of the Barbados Community College, under the direction of Stefan Walcott.
At the St Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary School, parents will be allowed to come in for Market Day tomorrow and sell products, including craft, vegetables and fruit at various points on the school’s compound from 9 a.m. The school will also stage a play by its drama group and patrons will hear its 100-member boys choir.
Graydon Sealy Secondary School (formerly Garrison Secondary School) will also hold its Independence programme tomorrow.
It will comprise a parade of cadets, musical and dramatic presentations and an address by retired Warrant Officer 1 Cherrol Deane, who will speak to students on Being Strict Guardians Of Our Heritage.
The Frederick Smith Secondary School (formerly St James Secondary) will hold its annual Independence awards ceremony tomorrow for students who have excelled in academics, sports, extracurricular activities, deportment and punctuality.
There will be entertainment by the school’s steel pan and folk songs by individual students and class groups. Former sportscaster and historian Morris Greenidge will also address students on Pride And Industry. The programme starts at 10 a.m.
At Wills Primary School, the entire body will today re-enact the Chainlink Of 1979, joining hands around the field at 9 a.m. and singing the song Let’s Join Hands. Through its outreach programme Helping Hands Of Wills the school will collect from pupils a donation, along with gifts placed in shoeboxes, to aid the needy.
St Cyprian Boys’ School, having had its programme last week, will bring the curtain down on Independence with its annual fair on Friday, Independence Day, from 10 a.m. under the theme Hero Mania. It will see students bedecked in superhero costumes and performances by reigning Sweet Soca and Party Monarch calypsonian Mikey, among other activities. (BGIS)
