ALTHEA Daniels-Stuart can be described as a disciplinarian but also considers herself a simple woman, who is like, as we say, ‘from the old school.’ She is the headteacher for L’ Aventure Secondary School, which is located at Canal Number One Polder, West Bank Demerara. She has been in the teaching profession for 28 years.

Daniels-Stuart has been there since September 1, 2012. The school, which was established in the 1950s as a nursery school, then developed into a primary and all-age school.

“I am very serious about discipline because there is no flexibility where discipline is concerned. I think if you don’t have the ability to manage yourself, then it will be difficult for you to mingle well with people and I think knowing your limits is very important as an individual,” she said.

This straightforward headteacher hails from New Amsterdam, Berbice and has taught at all the schools she attended in Berbice.

Daniels-Stuart added that she has a house in La Parfaite Harmonie where she resides, but likes to travel and has worked at schools in Region Nine, in the city and on the East Coast of Demerara.
Her teaching career first started at New Amsterdam at the St. Theresa Primary School.

L’ Aventure Secondary School
The school was converted into a secondary school when they had the Secondary School Reform Project – it is now a secondary school where students sit the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).

“I came to this school in 2012 and the very next year we had a fire which basically wiped out the entire building. However, it was rebuilt and re-opened in 2014, so we are now back here after spending a year at the GAICO Construction Compound further [sic] down the Canal,” she said.

Daniels-Stuart told the Pepperpot Magazine that their current enrolment is 455 and they have 18 subjects for CSEC.

She related that they have 42 students writing CSEC this year, but their numbers have dropped significantly because they have a large drop-out rate.

“In this area, a child in Form One or Two would say, ‘I don’t want to come back to school’ and I think it is a lack of firmness on the part of the parents that contributes to this kind of behaviour. For me, if you are leaving school at this age, when you reach age 14 you cannot gain employment or acceptance to any of the proper post-secondary education [institutions]. So for those years you are just floating around getting into trouble,” she said.

Daniels-Stuart told the Pepperpot Magazine that a large number of their students come from La Parfaite Harmonie, while others come from Wales, the West Bank of Demerara and Crane, West Coast Demerara.

She pointed out that they do not have a very vibrant Parent-Teachers Association (PTA), but they would have their meetings. And at those meetings, elections are held to elect executives of the PTA and then afterwards they would just drop out.

Working to better the circumstances

“We are trying, the one we have now is fairly active and we are trying to streamline changes in our admission policy and so on,” Daniels-Stuart said.
The headmistress stated that students of L’ Aventure Secondary School are not the high flyers from the primary school; as such, they find that students who attend the school can hardly read or write.

She is of the opinion that the problem of children who cannot read or write properly, stems from some deficiency in the home and at the primary school level.

The headteacher admitted that they have to work with them to become literate and they have been fairly successful in the sense that the students are still able to gain eight subjects.

Daniels-Stuart explained that two years ago, they had 11 subjects for Grades One to Three and last year they had eight subjects with just one Grade Three student and three others were from Grades One and Two.

“We have a student at Queen’s College [QC] doing the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), so we can do much better; but a lot depends on the collaboration between the school and the parents and that is what is lacking to foster better relations. I am saying with a school like ours, for us to be able to get children to write CSEC and pass, I think it is a significant achievement… I said to a colleague that we are called a secondary school, but we have more students who would fit better in the community high school environment rather than the full secondary school they are in,” she said.

Daniels-Stuart added that they write the same exams as at QC, but noted that the disparity is evident in the intake, facilities, support and with what they have she is of the belief that they are doing a good job.

She stated that they have 34 staff members in total and they house only the sections of Form Two to Form Five, because there is no space.

Form One students are housed at the Two Brothers Primary School, which is also located in Canal Number Two Polder.

“We don’t have adequate space here, we need a library, that is sorely lacking and we also need an extension to the building. The front building is in my work plan and proposal and if we have an upper-flat edifice we can accommodate the Form One pupils,” she said.

Challenges
Daniels-Stuart said their biggest challenge is getting adequate support from the PTA and is optimistic if they join collectively, they will help to re-enforce their regulations.

She explained that if they have PTA relations they will encounter very few social problems, since they have to deal with issues such as ‘fine pants’, hairstyles and lateness and concentrate on teaching rather than focusing so much on discipline.

The senior education official told the Pepperpot Magazine that because of the negative representation of the school, securing corporate sponsors and community-based businesses partnerships are not forthcoming.

“For instance, after the fire, we approached Courts for a used stove to get our Home Economics Department re-started and we didn’t get it. So I am constantly trying to urge the children to work on having what the public knows about this school to be positive. When you go out there and say L’ Aventure Secondary School, some people say ‘What is that?’ They never heard of it. Those who heard about it, heard about the fights, the negative things — but we are doing good things,” Daniels-Stuart said.

L’ Aventure Secondary School is without a landline phone service and the head teacher is hoping to have internet connectivity as well.

The school is, however, active in football and they do well at inter-school competitions annually, where they have eight students to represent the school in the field of sports.

Daniels-Stuart related that they lack the facilities, but they are working with what they have and most times they have to improvise and they are doing well.