According to visiting Principal of the UK’s “leading-edge” Ercall Wood Technology School, Kathryn Owen-Reece, Ercall is about the same size as George Hicks and Ercall has 22 Teacher’s Aides while George Hicks has only one. Mrs Reece was speaking at a Media Briefing on 7 April 2006 at which Education Minister, Hon Alden McLaughlin, introduced her, and had discussions on the state of education and its reform process here.

Mr McLaughlin told the press that the literacy problem in Government Schools in the Cayman Islands was “alarming,” when he revealed that only 23 percent of Cayman’s Government school children had achieved a pass mark in recent exams compared with a 52 per cent pass rate for UK students and a 56 per cent pass rate at Ercall Wood school in particular.

Mrs Reece mentioned the difference in the number of Teacher’s Aides between her school and George Hicks as she spoke about, “the way the two systems (Ercall and George Hicks) address youngsters with special needs.” Mr McLaughlin had referred to “special needs” students here noting that although his evidence of any numbers of such students was only anecdotal, he had said, “We don’t have the facilities and the resources in Cayman to hire reading specialists to cope with the problem.”

Mrs Reece explained that she and the team of five from Ercall were visiting Cayman to help. She said that as a high-performance leading-edge school they had access to funding from Central Government to help other schools. She explained that this additional funding amounted to some 60,000 euros and added that the money had to be spent on finding some special developmental project – whether it is with a local school in the area, or with an institution much further away.

Mrs Reece told the media that there were some common difficulties that Ercall, and the schools here, were facing. “Literacy is still a big issue.” She also said the changes in the wider society affect how youngsters behave in schools and this was a problem that Ercall, as well as the schools here, was facing.

Asked whether the Ercall model of a teaching institution was something Cayman was eyeing for reforming education systems here Mr McLaughlin said it was something he was considering. “Certainly it is one of the models we are looking at in the overall reform process,” added the Minister. Mrs Reece also added that there would be some immediate collaboration between the Ministry and Ercall.

“We are bringing over one of our teacher’s aides,” she said adding that the Aide would be here on assignment for some time. She also added that she and her team had been impressed with Cayman Brac High School during her visit here. “Cayman Brac High School has been working hard for several years to improve literacy levels in our school,” said CBHS Principal Shirley Wahler commenting on Mrs Reece’s good report.

“We have focused staff and resources on identifying and supporting students who need extra help and remediation. While we recognize that we still have many challenges, the TerraNova testing programmes offers us a valuable new tool to help identify areas of concern and track student progress as we strive to ensure that every child can succeed.”