A new primary school – Mill Academy – located near the Buckley’s round-a-bout
– is throwing its doors open on Monday for the start of the 2023-2024 Academic
Year.
Mill Academy’s principal, Kisma Pantier-Jno Baptiste who has nearly two decades
of teaching, said the institution will offer new approaches to education, as well as
expose students to foreign languages and other subjects that often have to wait
until the students reach secondary school.
“Our school will teach students from kindergarten to Grade Six and we will expose
them to a number of subjects that will help them to think ‘outside the box.’ Some
of the subject areas include coding and robotics, agriculture, projects,
sustainability, and journaling where the students will be encouraged to write down
their thoughts daily and to be prepared to discuss them with their peers,” she
explained.
The students will also be taught three foreign languages as part of their early
development. These are Spanish, French, and Mandarin, the most widely spoken
Chinese language.
“We are here to create a different experience for students, parents, and the
community. We are seeking not to teach A, B, C, or 1-2-3. Instead, a Mill
Academy student ought to know who he or she is as a human being and be
immersed in the opportunity to realize his/her full potential. We will have an
integrated curriculum where, as an example, when students go on a field trip, every
opportunity will be used to teach history, social studies, and even math from the
experience,” she explained.
Mill Academy is starting with eight students and a staff complement of ten
teachers. Yet Pantier-Jn Baptiste remains undaunted as she points to many
institutions operating on the island that started with even lower student
populations.
“Our focus is on the student. We will not water down our curriculum. We aim to
give value first and as word spreads, the parents will come. If we deliver, as we
promise, soon our classrooms will be full,” she reiterated.
Pantier-Jn Baptiste first made a name for herself while as a teacher at the All Saints
Secondary School, she turned to online teaching and was highly commended for
her innovation and her efforts. She also partnered with a former engineer of
SpaceX, the Elon Musk company, in teaching robotics at summer school one year
ago, where students built rockets that they shot into the air before they returned to
the ground.
It is those new approaches that may, over time, attract more students to Mill
Academy.
