Lift-off & Whip-cracking

Yesterday saw my first day starting in Montserrat Secondary School, and it certainly was a marked difference to my previous school. Having only one secondary school on the entire island, there is definitely an immense variation of students - the raucous, the studious, the quiet, the uninitiated. Proponents of the meritocracy system will like to know that schools here divide their sets solely according to learning ability, with each form divided into three or four sets, one of which will be comprised solely of students who need learning support.

All music activities and lessons will be held off-site, a former primary school extension located a 10-minute walk away from the main campus. I don't know if that will turn out to be a blessing or not, as being removed away from campus might increase a sense of 'break-away' from the main curriculum in students, or that might mean that they might not just come to class at all! I have been told that there are organizing shuttle buses to ferry students back and forth from the main campus; that should work.

I was given the chance to observe a chemistry lesson during Period 1 yesterday, but throughout the lesson I heard another group of students having a laugh outside along the corridor. Guess their teacher wasn't around? Having spoke to Jo about this yesterday, she replied with some form of cool indifference, highlighting the time she spent in the state school system.

After discussions with the directors of Culture and Education, my job description has begun to slowly take shape. I will be delivering structured classes during curriculum time to Forms 1 to 3, that's Years 7 to 9. Schools in the Caribbean use a syllabus by the Caribbean Examinations Council, simply called the CXC programme. However, at present, only Forms 4 and 5 follow the CXC syllabus (of which music isn't offered as a subject by the school), while Forms 1 to 3 don't follow a structured syllabus at all. So that translates to lots of lesson planning. For community-based work, I will be starting off with working with New Beginnings - an ensemble that is comprised of primary and secondary schools across the island. Run by the Minister of Culture, Herman "Cupid" Francis, this music outreach programme has been in place for a little over ten years. I will also start running extra-curricular activities after lessons, first in the secondary school then stretching out to primary schools.

I'll be trying to garner interest for choirs and ensembles by using the good 'ol posters around the school method. Let's see how that goes. I think a bit of whip-cracking may be in order to get things moving along...