Principal's Report for 2008-2009

Principal’s Report for Corozal Church of Christ Primary School

The School Year for 2008 – 2009 began with teachers motivated and ready to work.

Mrs. Shannon Ramirez went on a one year study leave at University of Belize. The staff was as follows:

Pre – School Mrs. Dora Gilharry
Infant I Mrs. Elena Clavel
Infant II Mrs. Otilia Pott
Standard I Mrs. Brenda Amaya
Standard II & III Mrs. Ruby Pena
Standard IV Mr. Jose Chan (Principal)
Standard V Mr. Wilbardo Cruz (Vice Principal)
Standard VI Mr. Ricardo Ake

In August 2008 the following teachers attended the CPD workshop organized by the Ministry of Education at St. Francis Xavier School;

Mr. Jose Chan,
Mr.Ricardo Ake,
Mrs. Elena Clavel,
Mrs Dora Gilharry
Mrs Brenda Amaya was on maternity leave at the time.

On the 21st to 28th August 2008 all teachers reported to school form the school calendar of activities. Teachers agreed to have teacher devotion at 7:30 ending at 8:20 on the first Tuesday of each month. Teachers were provided with copies of responsibilities and administration.

The new school rules was provided and discussed.

September School opened a total of 154 students registered for primary school and 23 for Pre- school. Mrs. Enida Itzab was replacing Mrs. Brenda Amaya temporary for three months. The Manager delivered school materials e.g. chalk, dusters, sport equipment, log book, attendance books and stationeries.

8th September Principal and Pre –School teacher attended a workshop to discussed pre – school rules, expectations organized by Ministry of Education.

18th September Standard V & VI represented the school at children’s night with a poem “The Belizean Flag” depicting the meaning of the flag.

19th September Pre – School had their parade at 8:00am at the central park, Mrs. Dora Gilharrry teacher organized parents participating.

20th September Church of Christ won 2nd place that is $200.00 in school band competition organized by Corozal Town Council. Standrd IV, V and VI, total of about 60 students took part in the children’s rally. Three teachers accompany the students, the school bus transported them. Students had flags and were provided with a snack. All students from the school were given a bag of goodies and a bottle of juice as a treat for Independence Day.

\27th September Students attended Sunday service on the last Sunday of the month they present an item be it poem, song or drama. Teachers also attended service.

30th September all teachers attended a BNTU meeting at Corozal Methodist School.

Mr. Noel Carballo informed the school about the eight students from the Corozal Junior College that will do their practicum at the school and management had accepted such recognition of school.

October Mr. Clayton Guzman presented about 70 books both text and work books for students. They were donated by the church members abroad and brought by Mr. Clayton Guzman to Belize.

Distributed the text books received to students most books were gotten.

6th October Had P.T.A meeting discussed school rules and present expectations had guess speaker Mr. Melendez to present topic on “successful students” about 42 parents attended.

10th October Flag Day Students did a flag of the Americas by division that is, Infant division – North America, middle division – Central America, Upper division – South America / Central Islands.

Flags were heart fully displayed. Students learned about flags and Unity.

21st October Manager Organized workshop on religion ethics and problem resolution also provided lunch.
21st to 27th October Ministry of Education declared classes as closed due to heavy rains and bad weather throughout the country.

30th October Male volleyball team captured third place at district level. Female volleyball team captured second place once more at final.

6th November received stationeries from Corozal Town Council to be given as prizes.

7th November Gospel Concert at Corozal Community College well attended. Students did well Mrs. Rev. and mothers prepared them.

20th November Children’s Day students were separated in three houses. They participated in traditional games, sack race, lime and spoon, running race, wheel barrow……. Prizes were given to all participants.

Principal informed that the Pre – School will be receiving a subsidy to help with Pre – School expenses and materials the amount varies according to monetary access. Great news for the school.

December Teachers agreed to teach up to 19th December 2008 to make up time for the week in October which was loss due to the heavy rains.

11th December Won Belize Women Organization presented Reyna Gonzales, Charlie Gilharry and July Gilharry with prizes for winning essay contest on “Break the Silence” for women’s week won first and second place.

18th December did end of year concert where student’s role play recite poems, sing a song on the birth of Jesus or do a religious item. Each class did two items. During the holiday the Pre – School (play) Mini Shop was completed.

January 2009 A moral on the school logo and a painting of an attractive pooh character was done on the wall to enhance students’ attraction.

5th January Parents were given report cards for the first term. Most report cards were collected.

15th January Principal attended principals meeting where Mr. Pedro Kukul did presentation on Principal expectation, supervision of teachers and students filing records.

21st January attended a special meeting where by it was confirm that Church of Christ will host there Tourist Social Studies competition for Zone 6 on 12th February 2009.

February Painted inside Pre – School and Primary School bathroom used 4 gallons of paint.

12th February hosted 6 schools for the Social Studies competition all teachers assisted in preparing venue well organized.

19th February Wilmer Gonzalez won first place in Spelling Bee Zone 6 at Paraiso Village he will represent at District level.

27th February Mr. Jorge Quijano presented the new manager for the school Mr. David Diego, he was given keys for school lockers, documents and he introduced himself to teachers. He will also conduct teacher’s devotion the first Tuesday of each month.

2nd March the eight C.J.C students began their practicum at the school in Infant I, Std. I, Std.IV and Std. V they will teach all subjects for eight weeks and be evaluated by C.J.C. Their Supervisor is Mrs. Rosalin Cruz and Mr. Sotero Cruz.

Stimulation Month for the Pre –School began

10th March Pre – School visited Corozal Hospital Dental Department.

13th March all teachers attended a Language Arts workshop at Mary Hill R.C. School conducted by the Ministry of Education.

19th March Pre – School went to take part in the Pre – School Festival of Arts and presented the story of the “Good Samaritan”.

26th March The school bus took the Pre – School to sports day at the civic centre day of fun. Students took part in game activities such as lime and spoon, beads stringing and sack race. Parents also took part.

31st March The school bus took the Pre – School children to parade Church of Christ did disguises as fruits and vegetables. Mr Zelaya did costumes and parents went with the students. Church of Christ Pre – school won in the banner competition.

3rd April Did special assembly to educate students about influenza and demonstrate proper way to wash hands, had each class have a sanitary materials to prevent influenza in school.

Kite contest a total of 39 kites. This year prizes were donated by the Corozal Town Council, and Mr. Joe Romero from the Commercial Free Zone. A total of 30 prizes were given by division as follows smallest kite, biggest kite, most colourful kite and kite that goes the highest.

Attended Principal meeting concerning portfolio and supervision of school main address Mr. Carol Bob

27th April School took part in Festival of arts, did a liturgical dance with ribbons movements girls were light blue and white blouse. Principal went to check (English and Comprehensive Writing) PSE at Belize City.

4th May 72 Students took PSE at C.C.C Mr. Ricardo Ake, teacher, accompanied them and took food and drinks to them.

6th May Entered 17 poems for the NEMO hurricane competition

7th May Mr. Wilmer Gonzalez and his father went to Ministry of Education for Spelling Bee he got 30 points and he went to the reserve list but eventually was eliminated.

8th May Last day for practicum teachers they did a fear well party for class of eight practicum teachers seven of them passed and we are proud to host them at school.

Principal went to Belize City to check PSE Math and Problem Solving.

12th May Height Census for Std. I conducted by principal and Std. I teacher.
28th May had our Open day on Science where students did well. All classes participated from Pre – School to Std. VI about 69 parents visited the school it was well attended. Most attractive was a creative volcano that erupts in Std. V, a circuit in Std. VI and plants on Std. II, the illegal drugs section in Std IV, food groups in Infant II, Infant I the hurricane safety tips, Std I the human body and Pre – School work displayed. Supervision of teachers by principal, discuss pros and cons give suggestions of areas of improvements.

4th June received letter of acceptance for 15 students. Two students will be attending the Belize Adventist College.

8th June Teachers attended a ecumenical service organized by the Ministry of Education for teacher’s week at St. Francis Xavier Church Mr. Ricardo Ake did a reading in representation of the Corozal Church of Christ Management.

9th June Mrs. Codd from Corozal Education Department came to do supervision of Principal. She check all aspects that a principal is responsible of doing both record and job performance of 25 points principal comply with 18 points and most of the remainder in progress.

10 – 11th June Mrs Guendolin Monima visit school to check on teacher’s annual plan, monthly scheme and classroom managerial, lesson.

12th June All Teachers travelled to Belmopan for Teachers Day full attendance, food, drink and transportation provided by Ministry of Education and BNTU.

18th June Graduation 9:00am total of 19 Pre – Scholars graduated and 4 teachers were in charged for preparation of venue and graduation layout. Guess speaker Mrs Emira Leiva

2:00pm 22 students graduated, guess speaker Mrs. Endevora Jorgensen 4 teachers organized and prepares venue. Manager David attended it; students were presented with academic and subject awards.

25th June School class party and distribution of awards to students for topping subjects. Minister Pablo Marin delivered $5000.00 subsidy to 15 students of Std. 6.

26th June End of school year closed fir summer vacation. Had mini meeting with staff informing about expectation for next school year and distribution of resources boxes for the class that they will teach for the school year 2009-2010. The key for the school building was delivered to the manager.

Teachers end of year social gathering at Corozal Bay Inn all Teachers were present had dinner and shared jokes.
The new staff for the school year 2009 – 2010 is as follows:

Estimated Amount of Students

Pre – School Dora Gilharry 20

Infant I Elena Clavel 22

Infant II Leticia Villanueva 18

Standard I Brenda Amaya 18

Standard II Jose Chan (Principal) 24

Standard III Shannon Guzman 24

Standard IV Wilbardo Cruz (Vice Principal) 15

Standard V Ricardo Ake 36
Teachers are to attend CPD workshops in August 2009.
· Principal will attend a principal’s workshop form 3rd August to 7th August 2009 Orange Walk.
· Pre _ School teacher is to attend Pre –School workshop at Corozal Education Center in August.
· All teachers are to report to school from the 24th August to 28th August 2009 for meeting and to prepare classrooms.
· The Action Plan for the new school year is in problem solving as there has been a declining school performance at problem solving. After staff consolation and discussion an action plan was formed to tackle this problem whereby the teaching of strategies e.g. guess and check, drawing technique, trail and error will be taught to students from pre – school to Std. 6. A close supervision of such program will be conducted.

Teachers will deliver more of both performance and lesson delivery, a more close supervision of student’s behaviour and various behaviours motivation will be used. One such as student of the month award, perfect attendance of the month award, best behaved student of the month award.

As part of student involvement the soccer school takes part in the yearly NDAC little league. This year Mr. Jose Chan Principal has the under 11 football team with students from the school. They play every Saturday and neighbouring Mr. Ricardo Ake had the school under 14 organized by NDAC also.
The school also host the Vacation Bible School to learn about Christ, members of the Church of Christ and missionaries came to teach children.
Also in July a medical team headed by Mr. Bob came to give medical attention to community people in Corozal. They also give educational lectures to students on dental care, give eye checkups to students and vitamins to kids.

Cementing the ceiling.

Before

After

Before

After

Corozal School Board

David, Tony, Jorge and Ricky

Passing out the rice and beans.

The Corozal church of Christ congregation with their gift bags.

Rice and beans to keep and to give away.

Hi again, from Amy!!
So, we have been in Corozal 5 days and have today returned to Belize City. During our time in Corozal we have met with the Corozal school board, painted two classrooms, including blackboards, visited with the church, met with the Community College personnel (which is highschool-junior college to us United Staters), met with our principal of CCCPS, and visited with most of our scholarship students.
Of course, we have gotten to know each other during this time. We have survived the heat, as well as a heat virus, and seen the Lord bless each day with lots of sun and future dreams for our school.
The classrooms are being worked on the next few weeks. Our school manager, David Diego, has found some men to work on the school. They will be covering the ceiling in one room that has exposed cinder blocks. He said the kids were worried about the blocks falling on them. So they won't notice the blocks with cement covering the blocks. We inquired about leveling the floors in the lower level classrooms. This will be good so that the desks and tables will sit evenly on the floor. Johnetta, Bev and I dream of placing tile on the floors one of these years. We have been told that it would be expensive. But we will continue to dream and pray.
Another dream we have is to teach our older students computer and keyboarding skills for their highschool studies and/or job skills. After talking to our principal, Mr. Chan, we have decided to work on providing the school with small netbooks. They are an inexpensive way to provide computers. Also the netbooks are efficient for portability and safe keeping from theft.
As always, if you or someone you know would like to donate a netbook please contact one of the board members. We were thinking of sending down 5 to 10 netbooks for a computer class. We have teachers qualified to teach, we just have to ask God to provide the means.
As mentioned before, we have a uniquie relationship with the music teacher at the highschool. Jerry and Johnetta spoke with the band director, again. He is thrilled about training some of our students. This opportunity is not open to any other school, just ours. We are excited about providing this to our students. We look forward to sending down flutes, clarinets, horns and more snare drums.
The small congregation in Corozal is poor and always in need. Jerry and Johnetta went to the local market and ordered up some rice and beans to pass out. They decided they would give each family an extra bag of beans and rice to give to someone in need. So, on Sunday morning we gave out the gift bags to all the members 15 years old and up, along with the rice and beans to each family unit. Sunday nite we heard about the giving of their rice and beans to friends.
Okay...it is now time to post some pictures.
Before I sign off.....we welcome our newest board member, Bev Gansner!!!!!

The mound of gift bags to hand out to the church members.

Betty zipping up the gift bags.
The assembly line.

A happy group of baggers.

The school was being used by a medical mission team. The people were lined up!!!

I am so happy that the back of the school finally was cemented. Also, a new bike rack was added. Now the students can park their bikes without getting muddy.

This is our group: (LtoR) Mev Notgrass, Amy Blackburn, Bev Gansner, Jerry Guidicy, Alexa Guidicy, Jake Guidicy, Johnetta Wilde, Betty Moore, Brittany Guidicy.

Bev and Jerry delivering pediatric hospital gowns that they made.

Over 100 gowns made for the hospital in Orange Walk.

Return to Corozal

Hello from Amy!!!
Here we are back in Corozal. Of course, Jerry comes every few months, Betty comes more often than most of us but this is my first return trip in 2 years. We have 6 of the seven school board members present on this trip. I mentioned this on my facebook profile. The Corozal Church of Christ Primary School is supported monthly by 7 women. There are several individuals, mostly women, who give when they can. As well as, a few one time supporters and scholarship providers. But the school board members have to be willing to give time, when they can, as well as their money. This is our mission.
We have already met with the Corozal School Board, all members of the church here in Corozal. What a blessing it was to hear of all that God is doing to keep the school growing. The school has received great honors in the annual government testing. Corozal C of C Primary School scored the highest in the district. They have set the bar high. Three students were able to tour with the community college band. They continue to excel in sports. And through all of this we get to share Jesus with them.
We are excited about the possibilities to grow the school. More on this later. But God is working.
What amazes me is the constant up keep on the building that is needed. How basic the building is and how well the students continue to learn in such conditions.
I have to praise the teachers as well. When school was let out of a teacher workshop our teachers all attended the workshop. It was told to us that so many teachers were taking the day as a holiday that the Education Ministry took attendance and those who did not appear did not get paid. I hope we get the chance to express our gratitude to the teachers for their dedication and spirit to teach and to learn more for their students. But being summer break we may not get to see all of them.
We have 7 scholarship students. So far, most of them are doing well in furthering their education. Jerry and Johnetta went to visit with the Principal of the Community College to find out how our scholarship students are doing.
The school system in Belize is set up for all kids to go to school through Level 5 which is our 8th grade level. Only the top 30% get to continue their studies. So those who have the grades and the desire will get to go. We try to find people to support these students. Fifteen out of 26 of the graduating class are continuing their studies.
Today we bought paint. Yellow and blue. Sounds cheery, calm and poster background friendly. The bottom floor classrooms look a little shabby. Of course, we can't see most of the walls for all the school posters and other tools all over the walls. So, the bare walls with the scars of the school year look sad and desperate for repair.
There has been a medical mission team using the building this week. They leave this afternoon and we will get in there and start cleaning and prepping for tomorrow. Saturday is paint day!!!
Jerry and Johnetta just returned from the community college. They visited with the principal, vice-principal and the music teacher. This is a great story. The Belizean Army donated music instruments to two schools in Belize. One school in the south and our school in the north. The music teacher at the community college offered to teach some of our students with our acquired instruments. So, Jerry has jumped on the opportunity and started collecting more instruments. Anyone have any flutes or clarinets lying around??? How about donating them!!! This trip Jerry brought down a xylophone and snare drum. This is a great opportunity for our students to have an advantage because most students show up at the community college with no experience.
Okay, I will have to write more later. Much more later.