ISABELLA MORRIS PRIMARY SCHOOL TO BECOME FIRST OF THREE JUNIOR SCHOOLS ON TORTOLA – WORKS TO COMMENCE FOLLOWING DEMOLITION

The abandoned Isabella Morris Primary School is set to soon commence reconstruction and become the first of three junior schools to be established on Tortola.

This announcement was made by Education Minister Dr. Natalio Wheatley during a community meeting held in the First District recently.

Dr. Wheatley said that funds have already been budgeted for the school which was severely damaged and deemed structurally unsound following the passage of Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Dr. Wheatley said by making it a newly developed junior school, it will help to ease the congestion presently experienced in the Road Town area, by providing students the opportunity to attend a nearby junior school.

“When we evaluated, we determined it was not necessary to bring back Isabella Morris as a primary school because of course, the students who are at Isabella Morris Primary School are being housed comfortably here at Leonora Delville Primary School, but bring it back we must. Of course, in honour of the great Isabella Morris and of course, that school is a fixture in the Carrot Bay community,” he said.

“So we must bring it back but we have been discussing for many years the concept of junior schools because of course right now, everything is centralized in Road Town and that causes traffic that causes a huge school, that’s really too big to manage. So, on either end of the island, we’re putting junior schools. We’ve spoken about that for many years, but this administration under the leadership of Honourable Andrew Fahie will make the Junior schools into a reality. And we’re starting with Isabella Morris Primary School,” he added.

To house approximately 200 students

Dr. Wheatley explained the proposed concept intended for the school, adding that the goal over the next three to four decades is to have the school seating approximately 200 students.

He said, “The concept is that some of the schools, which neighbor Isabella Morris right now, you have Ivan Dawson in Cane Garden Bay and of course, Leonora Delville, and we even want to create a situation where the students from Jost Van Dyke, don’t have to be getting on the boat and rushing all the way to Road Town and rushing back. That the students from Jost Van Dyke Primary School can be accommodated at the junior school at Isabella Morris.”

“We’re planning for about 200 students or so. Because of course if you take the graduating classes from Jost Van Dyke from Ivan Dawson Primary School from Leonora Delville, primary school, and you accommodate for growth over time, because we can’t just build for today, we have to build for the next 30 or 40 years. You’ll see that 200 students would be able to comfortably accommodate students on this end and we’re going to do the same thing on the Eastern end of the island. And of course, on Elmore Stoutt High School we’ll have a junior campus and we’ll have a senior campus. So that project is ready to go,” Dr. Wheatley further explained.

Works to commence following demolition of building

The education minister said that the works to the project will commence after the present building has been demolished.

He said the new structure will be located closer to the roadside, a decision that was made following the impact caused to the school due its proximity to the ocean.

“We did not want to demolish the building until we spoke to the community. It’s important for you to understand that the building was deemed structurally unsound and unsafe for our children and our teachers and administrators to be housed there. In addition to that, based on the destruction of Hurricane Irma and Maria we determine we have to move the school a bit from where it is, right close to the sea, a little closer in land and we have the space to be able to do that. So, once the building is demolished, we can move to the next phase of the procurement for the design,” he added.

Dr. Wheatley said that his government has already been speaking with companies and the Recovery and Development Agency, of whom have the requirements which were submitted for the school.