Eastern Caribbean Child-friendly Schools Newsletter Vol 9, 2016

n Welcome - pg 2 n acknowledgements - pg 4 n Up Close - pg 5 n In Focus - pg 7 - Teachers At Look Out Primary In Montserrat Give Up Lunch Time To Ensure School Safety - pg 7 - Bethel High School - St. Vincent & The Grenadines- Implements

INSIDE Disaster Management In The Curriculum - pg 7 - Adrian T. Hazelle’s School Safety Team Prepares Students to Deal with Natural Disasters - pg 8 - Speyside Anglican and Roborough Anglican In Tobago – Anti-Bullying Campaign - pg 8 n Student VOICES - pg 9 n Principal’s corner - pg 10 WHAT’S WHAT’S n NEWs from the field - pg 12 1 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 Welcome

Welcome to the 9th issue of In Touch.

The aim is provide educators with good practices at schools implementing the Child-Friendly/ Effective School (EFS) framework in the Eastern Caribbean Area, which they can consider for possible implementation in their own classrooms.

In the Eastern Caribbean, the implementation of the Child-Friendly School (CFS) / Effective Schools Framework (ESF) first started in 2007 with the main focus on positive behavioural management. This was primarily done in an attempt to reduce the use of corporal punishment by teachers and to address issues of interpersonal violence among children, which were becoming a concern for regional governments.

Recognising that a holistic approach must be taken to improve the psychosocial environment for students, the CFS model in the Eastern Caribbean has been expanded to include the following:

‹‹ Healthy and Health Promoting Practices –including teaching Health and Family Life Education

‹‹ Student centred Education

‹‹ School Leadership and Management

‹‹ Safe, Protective and Nurturing Environment

To date more than 50,000 students in the Eastern Caribbean are being exposed to CFS / EFS practices and the numbers keep growing. The countries where Ministries of Education are implementing the framework in their schools are:

ÂÂ Antigua & Barbuda ÂÂ Anguilla ÂÂ Barbados ÂÂ Dominica ÂÂ Grenada

2 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 ÂÂ St. Kitts & Nevis ÂÂ Montserrat ÂÂ St. Lucia ÂÂ St. Vincent & the Grenadines ÂÂ Tobago

One aspect of the CFS/ESF framework is the focus on Safe and Protective Environments for children at schools.

Safe schools are schools that:

ÂÂ Are free from bullying and schools where children know what to do to address bullying

ÂÂ Emphasize positive approaches to discipline;

ÂÂ Are free from any form of abuse and schools where children are sensitised about what to do to in the event of any form of abuse

ÂÂ Teach children about disaster preparedness and mitigation

This present issue of In Touch focuses on efforts in countries to ensure Safe and protective environments for children as part of their CFS/ESF interventions.

Please do not hesitate to share your stories and news with us at Bridgetown@unicef.org

3 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 Acknowledgements

UNICEF Anguilla acknowledges Social Development Department O’ Reilly Kelly Primary School the contributions Adrian T. Hazelle Primary School of the various St. Mary’s Pre-school

entities that have Antigua and Barbuda made this edition Ministry of Education, Sports, Youth and Gender of Barbados In Touch Ministry of Education, Science Technology and Innovation possible. Child Care Board UWI School of Education

Dominica Ministry of Education and Human Resource

Montserrat Ministry of Education and Youth Affairs

St. Lucia Ministry of Education Early Childhood Unit

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Early Childhood Unit Ministry of Education

Trinidad &Tobago Department of Education, Tobago

444 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 7, 2014 4 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 Up Close

Terron Azille has been teaching at the Adrian T Hazell Primary School in Anguilla for the past 7 years. In 2015, recognizing that the grade 5 boys at the school were falling behind academically, the principal and her staff decided to have separate classes for the boys and for the girls. This was done in an effort to motivate the boys.The theme they developed as part of their motivation strategy was Educated Girls Rock and Educated Boys Rule.

Mr. Azille was charged with the task of teaching the all-boys class and coming up with a positive behavioural management strategy that would appeal to the boys. He shared his experiences with the In Touch Magazine.

In Touch: What was your reaction when assigned roles: for example there is the the principal asked you to be in charge historian; the buddy readers; some were of the all-boys class? responsible for taking attendance.

Mr. Azille: When she discussed the idea with The boys were required to apply for these me I was skeptical at first because I knew positions and if they did not keep up with their some of the behavioural issues that some responsibilities, that is: Job responsibilities of the boys struggled with. However I did my and good behaviour they would lose their own research about behavioural management position and would have to reapply. They did and strategies for teaching boys and decided not want to lose their positions and eventually I would try it. improvements in their behaviour were evident.

In Touch: What were some of the At our school there is also a session called interventions you implemented in the “Golden Time”: This is a 30 minute session class? where the students actually decide what they want to do. On Fridays during Golden Time we Mr. Azille: The first thing I did was to establish play basketball and through extra-curricular a behavioural management system for the activities like this, I have gotten to know my boys. This system was based on student students a lot better. involvement and inclusion. Students were

4 5 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 In Touch: Have you seen any changes among the boys within the past year since you started?

Mr. Azille: The behaviour amongst the boys has definitely improved. I believe it is because the barriers have broken down and they have found someone with whom they can share. There are also less office referrals.

Some of the behaviours that some of the female teachers may see as problematic, I can deal with because I understand that they are just being boys – for example, I didn’t expect them to always be quiet.

Apart from their behaviour, their academics have also improved. Their reading test showed improvements from 28% reading at and/or above their reading age to 44 % percent.

In Touch: What has been some of your challenges?

Mr. Azille: It was a really large class so that was the biggest challenge - managing such a large number. Another challenge was that you always have to find activities to keep boys interested such as using a wide variety of multimedia and also engaging in educational activities that keep them physically active.

In Touch: What have you personally gained from this experience?

Mr. Azille: Patience. The biggest thing I’ve learnt is to be patient and also the importance of getting to know my students and letting my students get to know me. Once that connection was made it became easier for them to feel free to open up and express themselves and also this made them more receptive to the things I was trying to teach.

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IN FOCUS

Individual schools shared their efforts to keep their schools safe.

Teachers at Look Out Primary in Montserrat give up lunch time to ensure school safety

Like many other schools in the Caribbean, the Look Out Primary School in Montserrat, has established a Lunch time monitoring system. To ensure that the system works, teachers at this school give up their lunch time once per week so that the children could be adequately supervised. During this period some of the teachers can be seen engaged with their students in organised activities.

In addition all staff members have been issued with name tags and all visitors to the school’s compound must visit the school’s office first to receive their visitor’s pass.

Bethel High School - St. Vincent & the Grenadines- implements disaster management in the curriculum

The Bethel High School in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the first secondary school to pilot the Effective Schools Framework in that country. One of the first steps toward implementing the Effective School Framework was the formation of 4 committees by the These committees are all comprised of Principal: These were the: staff members who are responsible for implementing changes in the specific areas ‹‹ Positive Behavioural Management of focus of the committee. committee To date the Health and Safety Committee ‹‹ Student centred learning committee have ensured that disaster risk reduction, management and school safety are being ‹‹ Physical enhancement committee introduced in the HFLE and geography curriculum and all students are exposed to ‹‹ The Safety and Health committee the topics.

7 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 According to Sean Marshall, Science Teacher Speyside Anglican Roborough and Head of the Committee: “The role of the Anglican in Tobago – Anti-bullying committee is to ensure that there is a healthy campaign and safe learning environment for all students and all individuals who use and frequent the The Speyside Anglican and Roborough school.” Anglican in Tobago have developed an anti-bullying campaign to ensure that their He noted that the students have been students and staff feel safe and protected. responding quite well and that one class wrote Below are some of the posters developed by a song about Disaster management students as part of this campaign. For more information on implementing CFS at Bethel High school – put link to the video.

Adrian T. Hazelle’s School Safety Team Prepares Students to Deal with Natural Disasters

The Adrian T. Hazelle School with its roll of 293 students have implemented a School safety team as one of its CFS interventions.

This team’s role is to ensure that the staff and students have appropriate responses in the event of natural or mandate disasters. The team is responsible for fire and Tsunami drills and for implementing other disaster preparedness measures.

As part of school safety, the school has also implemented a sign in system for parents when they come to the school; they have also implemented a visitor’s badge and a withdrawal book which parents need to sign in order for children to leave school early.

8 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 STUDENT VOICES Welcome

One aspect of ensuring safe schools is providing students with an opportunity to play a role in school safety. At the O’ Reilly Kelly Primary School in Anguilla Kids On Patrol (KOPS) is one of the CFS interventions in this regard.

How are students recruited for KOPS? Students are recruited by their peers and by their teachers. They are recruited for one term. The focus is not only on well-behaved students but anyone who is interested is given a chance to be a KOP.

What happens after a student has been selected? They are informed of their duties, provided with training and then they have to make a pledge. They then work in groups of twos and they supervise while they play. They supervise the bathrooms, lunch rooms, eating area, and the entrance of the school.

Is there an incentive for becoming a KOP? Yes. The KOPs are rewarded for doing a good job at the end of the term. If they misbehave they can no longer be a KOP. Two students from the school - AAIvor Adams and 11-year- old Kaidem Procto shared their views about being KOPS.

AAIvor

Initially I wasn’t interested in being involved in Kids On Patrol because I don’t like being in spotlight; but now I like it. I like being Kaidem able to help the other kids. It is a good job. We help the teachers govern the school I like the responsibility of being able to help because we can see where the teachers the teachers and to help keep the children can’t see. Being involved has made me out of trouble. It has helped me to build my follow the different rules that I didn’t like to leadership skills as I have to think of new ways follow before. It has also helped Kaidem to to get things done and it forces me to set an come out of his shell. example for the other kids to follow.

9 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 PPRIRINCNCIPIAPLAS’L ’SCO CORNERNER R

FAQ ABOUT BY PRINCIPALS ABOUT CREATING SAFE AND PROTECTIVE ENVIRONMENTS AT SCHOOLS

1. What specific actions can schools take to ensure greater safety? ‹‹ Involve all stakeholders in assessing how safe is the school. Both physical and psycho-social safety should be measured. ‹‹ Create a comprehensive safety plan with the involvement of all stakeholders. This plan should have both proactive and responsive action steps. ‹‹ Sensitise all staff, students and parents about the plan. ‹‹ Schedule and execute frequent emergency drills. ‹‹ Maintain the physical school environment (e.g. Repair broken windows; remove graffiti) ‹‹ Teach social and emotional skills to enable staff and students to manage emotions appropriately. ‹‹ Build students’ connectedness to school. This reduces the likelihood of them engaging in violent or health compromising behaviours. ‹‹ Maintain confidentiality when students report dangerous activities or student infractions.

2. What role can students play in creating safer climates at their schools? Students can: ‹‹ Alert adults about any threats to student or staff safety. ‹‹ Host focus groups for peers to discuss safety issues. ‹‹ Participate in planning and implementing violence prevention programmes such as peer mediation. ‹‹ Volunteer to be mentors for younger students. ‹‹ Create student-governed organisations which focus on creating school safety. ‹‹ Promote school safety through social media.

3. How can parents and the community help to create safer schools? Parents and communities can: ‹‹ Develop parent advisory groups devoted to school safety issues. ‹‹ Teach students how to resolve conflict peacefully. ‹‹ Participate in assessing the safety of their child’s school. ‹‹ Volunteer to work on the school’s safety initiatives

10 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 ur o yo n? D pla ipalS ety nc saf Pri e a s hav ool sch

Does it include… Security procedures

A bully prevention plan

An emergency preparedness, response and recovery plan

A child abuse prevention and reporting plan

A safe process for students to report threats

A suicide prevention and response plan Critical incident response plan ? ??

11 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 NEWS FROM THE FIELD

NTIA ONAL EFFORTS TO ENSURE SAFE AND PROTECTIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS-BASED SETTINGS

Barbadian school security the book Keeping My Body Safe to all primary guards, bus drivers and traffic school children ages 8-11 years. wardens sensitised on positive This is one of the initiatives to ensure that behavioural management children know what abuse is and what they can do to protect themselves from abuse. Two of the first faces that parents and students encounter at a school are the security guard In a very child-friendly manner the book and traffic wardens and how they interface focuses on topics such as: safe and unsafe with students and parents can determine if touches; good and bad strangers; good and any potentially volatile situations can escalate bad secrets and what to do if you or your friend or be resolved peacefully. has been abused.

With this in mind, The Ministry of Education in 11 –year- old, Kwanita Lander who attends the Barbados undertook a weeklong training and Goodwill Primary School in Dominica noted sensitisation for its school security guards, that having read the book her knowledge traffic wardens and bus drivers in August. about the types of abuse have increased.

Among the topics covered were: Understanding Child Development; How to Communicate with Adolescents and Positive Behavioural Management. Resource persons also included two local police officers who provided insight into the law and dealing with minors.

Most of the participants noted that the workshop was an eye-opener and they came away better prepared to undertake positive interactive with the students they encounter.

Dominican children learn how to “Keep Their Bodies Safe.”

The Social Development Department in Dominica, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, has developed and disseminated

Kwanita showing off her copy of the book 12 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 S nt. Lucia ECD practitioners to be given an interactive and age appropriate tool to teach pre- school children about safety

The Ministry of Education in St. Lucia, in collaboration with the Early Childhood Department and the Department of Human Services is developing a cartoon video for pre-school through Grade 1 to teach them in Director of Social Development Jemma Azille an age-appropriate and child-friendly manner presenting the book to students about child protection issues such as : sexual grooming, bullying, their private parts and She would also recommend other children appropriate and inappropriate touches. to read the book because “it would teach them [the children] about the dangers of child They will also be developing a guide for ECD abuse.” practitioners and teachers to accompany the video. This guide will cover issues such as: child abuse, bullying, positive behavioural management and life skills. The aim is to ensure that early childhood practitioners and kindergarten teachers are equipped with the tools and skills to keep children safe.

Some of the characters that will be used in the video for St. Lucian pre-schoolers 13 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 SocD ial evelopment Department Dominica, Anguilla, St. Lucia and in Anguilla supports primary St. Vincent and the Grenadines – schools to address the issue of promote safety in pre-schools bullying Early Childhood Education is reaching new heights in several of the countries implementing the CFS framework.

No longer is this service seen as one that is simply meeting the need for “babysitting” a few children.

Early Childhood Practitioners are becoming more aware of the need to provide an environment that supports learning and one which is safe. They have embraced the vision of creating Safe Spaces for Children.

This is as a result of exposure to numerous training done by Ministries of Education, Early The Social Development Department with Childhood Departments in collaboration with the support from UNICEF and UK AID conducted Departments responsible for Child Protection a study to ascertain what were the problem areas for bullying and what students felt School Guidance needed to be done to address bullying. Counsellor Mrs. Joanne Rolle Carrette The Department also worked with a local Facilitating Child- creative artist and produced an anti- bullying Friendly School song and dance featuring children. As a Workshop with result children have been using their talents Early Childhood to spread their anti-bullying messages across Educators in Dominica schools in Anguilla.

In addition, the Social Development on topics such as: Positive Behavioural Department shared the findings of its study Management and on How to create Safe and with a wide cross-section of stakeholders protective spaces in early childhood settings. who interact with school aged children and a national action plan is being developed to To date more than 300 ECD Practitioners address bullying. across Dominica, Anguilla, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have been trained and sensitised.

The sessions on Positive Behavioural Management has led to a new appreciation of alternative forms of disciplining other than the use of corporal punishment.

This can be seen in the creation of positive behaviour management charts and class Children performing the anti-bullying campaign dance. room expectations to give children a sense of ownership and responsibility for their behaviour. 14 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 One of the behaviour charts created by ECD practitioners from St. Vincent and the Grenadines after a weeklong training where more than 100 of them were trained on creating safe and protective spaces. This chart uses the theme of weather to help pre-school children to manage their behaviours.

These behavioural expectations can be found at the St. Mary’s Pre-School in Anguilla in the classrooms, the walkways and on the playground.

ENSURING SAFE SPACES FOR CHILDREN IN OUT-OF-SCHOOL SETTINGS

Don minica School Bus Drivers Bus drivers participated in group exercises to taught Positive Behavioural determine best approaches and practices to guide their positive interaction with students. management strategies

Ninety–six (96) Dominican bus drivers and attendants are now better able to implement positive behavioural management strategies when children misbehave on school buses. This is as a result of a two day workshop held by the Ministry of Education.

The workshops explored drivers’ and attendants’ concerns; their interaction with students, the responsibilities of the bus drivers to create child-friendly spaces on their buses Mr. Stephenson Hyacinth facilitating workshop with school bus drivers and to ensure that students were always safe.

15 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 Antiguan School Buses to depict displayed outside as well as inside the school CFS Behavioural Expectations buses.

Realising that sensitisation of school bus These expectations: Be Ready; Be drivers on positive behavioural management Responsible and Be Respectful explain to was just the first step towards changing the students the necessary behaviours, which behaviours of students on the school buses, the if adopted - could prevent confrontations Ministry of Education in Antigua and Barbuda, between them and the bus drivers, as well as along with the local transportation Authority from happening among their peers. has developed behavioural expectations for the school buses and these are now being The expectations also focus on behaviours which can lead to safety on the school buses.

Dominican and Barbadian Church Barbados leaders sensitised on creating Similarly following up on training done for New Testament Church of God (NTCOG) Pastors safe and child-friendly spaces and Sunday school teachers, the Barbados for children Child Care Board conducted further training for five of the pilot churches to determine Dominica concrete action points for implementing Evangelical leaders and youth leaders within the NTCOG child protection policy in these their churches now have an enhanced churches. Some of the concrete next steps understanding on what needs to be done to identified were: sensitising lay worker on child create safe spaces for children who attend abuse; interviewing persons and conducting their Sunday schools and youth groups. background checks on persons wishing to This was after a workshop held by the work in children’s ministry. Ministry of Education for them on creating Safe and Protective Spaces. The workshop was facilitated by Pastor Kenroy Burke from Barbados who was the former Principal of a Christian primary school implementing the CFS framework.

16 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 Promoting Positive Behavioural The Ministries of Education in Dominica, St. management on the field in Lucia and in Grenada provided training for coaches and their schools’ PE teachers on Dominica, St. Lucia and in Grenada positive behavioural management on the field. An area where child abuse – especially emotional abuse and bullying - can As a result of their efforts more than 200 inadvertently occur is during sports, games coaches have been sensitised on how or P.E classes. they can implement positive behavioural To ensure that students are not exposed to management practices on the field and still any forms of abuse while engaging in sports, get the best out of their players or athletes.

SUB-REGIONAL EFFORTS

Teachers attending Teacher’s Training Colleges across the Eastern Caribbean will soon have enhanced skills to deliver alternative strategies to corporal punishment when addressing disciplinary problems in the classroom.

This is as a result of a workshop held for Tutors of Teachers Training College on how to teach Positive Behavioural management.

Approximately 50 tutors from six of the nine OECS countries attended the workshop which was organised by the University of the West Indies School of Education Cave Hill Campus in collaboration with the UNICEF Office for the Eastern Caribbean Areas.

According to Dr Verna Knight from the School of Education, across the Caribbean teachers have been calling for alternatives as they have to address a myriad of disciplinary problems.

UNICEF Education Specialist Ms. Elaine King noted that the workshop was quite timely and that this approach will lead to more sustainable way of intruding teaching to positive behavioural management.

“This action by the UWI School of Education and the Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education is a significant step in a critical move from a series of ad hoc workshops to a more structured and systematized offering as part of the Associate Degree Programme”. King said.

17 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 OECS Child Protection and Sports strategy - ensuring safety on the field

The OECS has partnered with UNICEF to develop a sub-regional strategy to address child abuse in all sporting disciplines. One aspect of this strategy is the development of a sub-regional communication campaign targeting parents and coaches on the importance of ensuring children involved in sports are safe and protected especially from emotional, verbal and sexual abuse.

The See Something Stop Something Campaign is expected to be launched early in 2017.

Keeping children safe in natural disasters -Teachers among those trained in Return to Happiness Program Methodology

Preventing floods, storms, droughts, landslides or even Tsunamis may not always be possible, but with better planning, preparation and response, they do not have to become full-fledged disasters, and affected children can be helped to recover a lot sooner.

With this in mind, UNICEF in collaboration with the Red Cross supported the training for 25 participants including teachers at a sub- regional workshop on the Return to Happiness Methodology held in June in St. Lucia. The aim was to provide participants with the skills to implement the RHT methodology in the event of a natural disaster. RTH Programme activities target children 5-12 years and are designed to encourage them to express their feelings, concerns, anxieties, and hopes after a disaster by communicating in different ways such as through drawing, theatre and story-telling.

18 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 NEW COMMUNICATION MATERIALS

Below are new communications materials which can be found on the UNICEF webpage and/or the UNICEF youtube page that can assist with the implementation of CFS/ESF in your countries

Please visit www.unicef.org/easterncaribbean to download full brochure and full document.

19 IN TOUCH Newsletter Vol. 9, 2016 Produced in collaboration with Ministries of Education in the Eastern Carribbean

UNICEF Office for the Eastern Caribbean Area First Floor, UN House Marine Gardens, Hastings Christ Church, Barbados

Tel: (246) 467 6000 Fax: (246) 426 3812 Email: [email protected] Website: www.unicef.org/easterncaribbean www.facebook.com/UNICEFeasterncaribbean www.youtube.com/UNICEFeasterncaribbean

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