In a landmark event, the Ministry of Education signed yet another contract to begin construction of a new school building for the St. Andrew’s Anglican Primary School at the Ministry of Education on February 26, 2025.
The contractor winning the bid for construction of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)-funded project is Creative Design & Building Construction Co. Ltd. The cost of construction is EC$26,592,237.90, and the project will take approximately 18 months to be completed. The school is being constructed as part of the second phase of the Grenada Education Enhancement Project (GEEP), under the Infrastructure Works component, wherein five schools will be reconstructed or rehabilitated.
Speaking about the design of the school structure that he saw in a demonstration video, Grade 5 student Nathan Williams said, “It’s bigger, it’s better, the outside looks nice. When you come in, you just have to say, ‘Wow, that school looks very nice!’!”
The new building will be constructed on the original school grounds at Victoria Street, Grenville, and will be approximately 15,000 square feet. The school will have a modern ‘L’ shape design and will accommodate two floors. The ground floor will house seven (7) adaptable classrooms for kindergarten, four (4) classrooms for primary level, as well as facilities for school administration, a tuck shop, and a kitchen. The first floor will have 10 classrooms for the primary level, which brings the total number of rooms for teaching to 21. Additionally, the first floor includes a multi-purpose information technology (IT) room. The design also includes a 5000 square foot playground and several parking spaces. To ensure inclusiveness, there will be wheelchair ramps for accessibility.
Anslem La Touche, Ph.D., founder and president of Creative Design & Building Construction Co. Ltd., is confident in his company’s ability to deliver a superior product. He noted his company’s work with other educational institutions, including St. George’s University. La Touche said more than 100 people are expected to be employed on the project.
“From looking at the school structure, the first thing I will tell you is it’s a quite nice, modern building, something different. For us, we love doing new things,” La Touche said. “We really, really focus on having good, quality management and a talented team.”
Education Minister, Sen. the Hon. David Andrew, applauded the stewardship of the principal, Jennifer Rodney, during the school’s struggles over the years. He commended the support of the Ministry’s project team, supported by the Ministries of Infrastructure and Finance, and the patience of all stakeholders involved.
Hon. Andrew said, “I, more importantly, look forward to its successful completion and seeing our students eventually move into their new home, or back into their home, and to see the benefits derived by the student population.”
The St. Andrew’s Anglican Primary School principal is pleased that for the first time her team will have a staff room, adequate classroom space, a stage for school activities and performances, and a playground space for students.
Noting her appreciation for being actively involved in the planning process up to this point, Rodney said, “We feel very blessed that we are going to see a day when St. Andrew’s Anglican Primary School is going to have a permanent home and a modern one too, at that. We feel a sense of relief that this actually is going to happen.”
The St. Andrew’s Anglican Primary School has had a series of unfortunate events over the past two decades, beginning with a fire at the original school’s location, compounded by further infrastructural damage in Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Following this, temporary wooden buildings were constructed adjacent to the original school to house the students. Due to worsening conditions, including flooding, the school moved to another temporary location at Progress Park, St. Andrew, in 2023, only to experience a second fire that damaged many classroom spaces in October of that year. Consequently, the school moved, for the third time, in January 2024 to the resource centre in Telescope, St. Andrew, outfitted with three additional wooden buildings.
School Manager Archdeacon Michael Marshall thanked all stakeholders, saying, “It is a joyous occasion. It is a time when we recognise that faith, married with patience and collaborative working together, as it were, allows for great things to happen.”
The Ministry of Education also signed an EC$27.4 million contract for the construction of the new Grenada Christian Academy School on November 22, 2023, with work commencing on April 8, 2024. The St. David’s Catholic Secondary School will be next in line for contract approval and signing, as the Ministry of Education, along with its partners, continues to work on strengthening school infrastructure to improve teaching and learning outcomes.
