The Ministry of Education says it will deploy additional counsellors to the Questelles Government School to help students cope with the psychosocial impact of the fire that destroyed a school block on Dec. 29, 2025.
“My senior staff has already decided that some of our counsellors in the school system will be deployed to the school,” Education Minister Phillip Jackson told the API on Monday at the school, where a special assembly was held as the new school term began.
“The principal has also assured us that our own local counsellor would help, and there are a lot of pastors in the surrounding villages who are also engaged,” Jackson said, naming some of the Christian clerics.
“So, all of that pastoral care would be paramount in helping the students adjust. But just judging from their faces, they’re just excited to be here, excited to meet their friends and start the new term and let them worry about just being students.
“And we, we will worry about making sure all things are put in place, to make sure everything is restored properly.”
The fire gutted the oldest block at the 114-year-old elementary school, resulting in education officials housing students of Grades 5 and 6 at the Campden Park Secondary School, until the building is renovated.
The government has set term 3 as the timeline by which all the students whould return to their campus in Questelles.,
Addressing the students during the assembly, Jackson said that within minutes of the fire, ministry officials began putting a plan in place to accommodate the students.
He said that he and Nigel Stephenson, MP for South Leeward, where the school is located, visited the school the night of the fire.
“And so by the time we came back the following morning, everybody was activated, united and focused, and within very short order, we developed a plan to relocate those students who were affected,” he said.
The education minister said that other state agencies, including BRAGSA, which builds and maintains public infrastructure, began preparing plans to rebuild the school.
“So, I want to assure you, students and staff and parents and the community of Questelles that your government, led by your ministers, are very engaged in ensuring that you are well accommodated for term two, and that everything is in place for a speedy recovery,” Jackson said.
Speaking earlier, Stephenson, who is also minister of infrastructure and transport, said that the school will be rebuilt, better, stronger and bigger.
“… bigger in the sense bigger in the sense that we understand the use of that facility, and when it is handed over to you again, we will make sure that it becomes the envy of similar facilities in the entire country,” Stephenson said.
He also announced that the government has secured the services of a brand new bus that will transport the students to and from the temporary location in Campden Park.
Stephenson said he had also spoken with his permanent secretary, and that the ministry was in dialogue with the traffic department to address student safety at the Campden Park location.
“And speaking about traffic, we know that that area is a veritable race track. We know that for sure. We know how fast those vans go up and down that road,” he said, adding that his ministry was working with the Traffic Department to install speed bumps in the area.
Meanwhile, the head teacher, Donnette Ferdinand said that the school is strong and resilient.
“… we know how to fight. It is this resilient spirit that assures us that despite this major setback, we are going to rebuild better and stronger,” the educator told the assembly.
“There are many things that we must be grateful for today, including you, our friends and supporters. Since the fire, we have seen tangible support from various generous institutions. And organisations, and we are grateful. We are so grateful.”
Ferdinand said she had become emotional when the students sang their school song during the assembly.
“I got a little emotional because, I mean, it’s a hard hit, but here we are today, giving thanks despite of all of this.”
She quoted Isaiah 43:2, in which God promises to be with his people when they pass through flood or fire.
“God is with us, so our hearts are grateful, our spirits are unbreakable, and we will continue to give thanks, come what may, even amidst the flames,” she said.