A school feeding initiative launched by Bay Gardens Resorts ten years ago to help ensure students receive a nutritious breakfast is being credited with improvements in attendance and academic performance at the Monchy Combined School.
Last week, resort team members went to the school to continue their initiative, preparing and serving students a nutritious breakfast, while promoting healthy eating. Later that day, the students of the Gros Islet Primary School were also served lunch.
Bay Gardens Marketing Manager Pauline Francis told St Lucia Times that the initiative grew out of concerns raised by resort employees whose children attended the schools.
“They expressed that many students were coming to school without having a proper breakfast,” she said.
“And it was not just that some parents could not afford, it was also due to the fact that there were parents working in the hospitality industry who, on some occasions, did not have the time in the mornings to prepare breakfast.”
The resort subsequently began supplying ingredients to the schools each month to ensure their canteen cooks had enough provisions to prepare nutritious breakfasts for students.
Three years ago, Bay Gardens expanded the initiative by introducing an annual World Food Day breakfast at Monchy Combined School in October. Two years ago, it also began providing lunch for students at Gros Islet Primary School.
“By doing this, it afforded our team members the opportunity to come into the school and interact with the students while serving them and gave the students the opportunity to interact with us,” Francis said.
Last week’s visit also coincided with activities marking the La Maguerite Festival, giving students an opportunity to observe the cultural celebration.
Francis said the resort had seen improvements in students’ overall attendance and learning since the initiative began, pointing to the relationship between nutrition and education.
“What we have learnt since we started doing this is that there has been an improvement in the students’ overall attendance and learning, which speaks to the connection between nutrition and learning,” she said.
Monchy Combined School principal Troy Nestor confirmed the improvements since the introduction of the feeding programme.
“We have seen a drop in absenteeism as well as our pass rate going up. We have seen an improvement in both the MST and CPA results which is now at 70 per cent for the first time in over 20 years.”
Nestor expressed appreciation for the resort’s support and said he looked forward to the partnership continuing.
Bay Gardens Resorts has confirmed that it will continue supporting the school and plans to undertake a project to renovate its Home Economics room.
