Since the start of this academic year, the Ministry of Education has introduced a programme called Maths Recovery in Government Primary Schools.  Maths Recovery allows teachers to diagnose children’s difficulties and to provide intense individual support.  The training also enables the teachers to work with whole classes in order to reduce the amount of students who fall behind in their mathematics.

In order to implement the programme, teachers in the Government system had to be trained.  This involved trainers from the UK coming to Cayman along with the Numeracy Specialist in the Ministry of Education training the teachers over several weeks so that they are able to diagnose the various difficulties.  Thanks to the financial support of the Cayman Islands Society of Professional Accountants (CISPA) this training has been possible and currently 22 teachers have been trained in the system.  CISPA has donated 50% of the funds required for the books, equipment and trainers.

On Thursday January 10^th, CISPA also donated 16 mini-video cameras to the schools involved in the Maths Recovery training which are important devices used in supporting diagnoses of student difficulties.

Numeracy Specialist Frank Eade was very grateful for the support from CISPA and said, “CISPA’s support has been outstanding and has helped us improve the teaching and learning of maths in our school system.  Not only have they financially contributed to the programme but they have also provided 60 volunteers to support mathematics teaching in three of our primary schools to help our students directly in the classrooms.  The schools that the volunteers assist at are George Town Primary, Red Bay Primary and Prospect Primary.  This is wonderful because it allows our students to work directly with well qualified people from math related professions and gives students great examples of how math is used in the working world.”

Mr. James George, President of CISPA is delighted to be a part of the initiative and had this to say: “CISPA is proud to support the development of Cayman’s youth through the Maths Recovery Programme.  Maths skills are crucial in today’s global environment and it is encouraging to see the enthusiasm that this programme has generated amongst both teachers and students.   We are also extremely pleased with the progress that has been made since the launch of the programme and commend the programme facilitators and teachers for their efforts.”

Finally, Chief Officer for Education, Mrs. Mary Rodrigues thanked CISPA for their contributions.  She said, “I would like to thank CISPA and all of its volunteers for their support and donations to the Maths Recovery programme.  With your help we have been able to implement this programme which directly impacts our students.  Maths is one of the most important subjects for our students to learn and do well in.  This programme helps us identify any struggles our students are experiencing so that we can help them make the necessary improvements to be successful at this level and beyond.”