It’s been so nice Cuthbert Moore and Hilda Skeene will be doing it thrice.
After successfully staging combined sports for two years running, both rural schools will be looking at the joint venture with different schools next year in an effort to encourage more camaraderie among local primary schools.
Cuthbert Moore’s physical education teacher Perry Barnett revealed the possible move ahead of next season’s athletic calendar after yesterday’s second edition of the joint sports day at the National Stadium.
“It’s about encouraging schools to get in on this venture because not only does it allow you to save some expenses but you can build a lot of friendships among the athletes, especially those Class Fours that will be competing at NAPSAC,” reasoned Barnett.
“We can develop better relations between the schools and have a culture of unity among us because we don’t necessarily have that right now and it makes it so much easier for us.”
The suggestion comes directly after another effective staging of the joint meet between the schools, which were met with rave reviews following their novel initiative at Kensington Oval last year.
It was the brainchild of Barnett, who said he was toying with the concept for years before eventually having to persuade Cuthbert Moore to pull off the event with their St Philip counterparts.
“This just makes too much sense in terms of saving the school money because this allows us to split the cost of a big venue like the National Stadium,” said physical education teacher at Hilda Skeene, Janelle Denny.
“You have to consider too that there are over 80 primary schools now all vying to use top facilities like the National Stadium because of the track, but the Stadium has limited days for use.
“You have to compete with other schools for days, then compete with the secondary schools as well as both NAPSAC and BSSAC, all before the term is done.
“So this allows two schools to have an opportunity to use the Stadium on the same day while giving the students that chance to use the track before we get to NAPSAC so they won’t be hitting the track for the first time at that competition,” she added.
Neither Barnett nor Denny identified the schools they were looking to partner with for next year.
