Philipsburg, August 16, 2017: The Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performance Arts held from August 7-11, 2017 an orientation week to plan for the new school year 2017-2018. It was organized by the management and staff and brought together the board, management, staff and teachers to think strategically about the smooth welcome back to school of returning and new students.
In her opening remarks, president of the board, Ms. May-Ling Chun welcomed the teachers, students and parents’, noting that “The Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performance Arts started its 6th year of providing education for gifted students interested in the arts and academics”. “I am so pleased to have been part of this progress and see the school grow from two first form classes to having all 6 forms this school year and welcoming close to 40 new first form students”, she concluded.
This was followed by the Director, Mrs. Forsythe Labega who provided insights into the policies and procedures of the school. She reminded teachers about the importance of providing out of the box thinking to create that well needed conducive environment for the students to achieve academic and performance arts excellence. Of particular interest was the integrated teaching methodology which has been researched and evidenced as a successful approach in education. The school will be implementing integrated teaching as a project across the different subjects taught at the school.
The ice breaker was done by Mrs. Okama Ekpe Brook, the Innovation and Junior High Coordinator who challenged each teacher to introduce themselves in one minute highlighting their core essence and their passions. That style of introduction was a reminder of the creativity and innate talents of each teacher and that each of us possess skills which can be applied in the academic, arts and sports areas to help students learn better. That led to the team building session by Mr. Nelson Higgs with focus on communication & cooperation, dialogue, discipline & responsibility, power, courage and self-esteem, and bullying, cyber bullying, and drugs.
Mr. Hiro Shigemoto led the teachers through a goal setting exercise where he explained that goals must be SMART and will be monitored through a mid-term review and an end of year evaluation.
Other topics covered included introduction to Sycamore, an electronic online student tracking tool, the School Development Plan, strategic planning and course outline development, introduction to the Parents Teachers Association as well as the requirements for examination certification. The teachers’ orientation ended with group work on integrated teaching, school supplies and classroom preparations.
The sessions started at 8:30am and ended at 3:00PM every day. Once the teachers completed sessions, it led straight into the students and parents’ orientation which commenced on Monday August 14th and still ongoing. The Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performance Arts is proud to have exceeded its enrolment expectations with 37 new students moving from 117 students in the 2016 school year to 154 students school year 2017-2018!
The Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performance Arts is a high school program established in 2012 on St. Maarten. We offer a full day program starting at 7:30am with Academic classes and Performance arts classes (Music, Theater Arts, Visual Arts, Physical Education and Dance) beginning at 2:30pm until 4:15pm from Monday to Friday. We are located at the Former Government Administration Building, Clem Labega Square, Philipsburg, St. Maarten. For more information on the school,
visit us at www.charlottebrooksonacademy.org or email charlottebrooksonacademy@gmail.com,
Tel: +1721 5421229 , +1721 5238999.
Mon – Frid: 8:00AM-4:00PM
We are also on Facebook: Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performance Arts.
