Come September 09, 2013 when the new school term begins, the nursery and reception students of the one primary school located in the parish of St. John will return to a newly-refurbished campus.

Thanks to CIBC FirstCaribbean’s Internal Audit and Finance teams, who operate out of the bank’s Warrens Headquarters, the school recently acquired a commercial weed trimmer to assist with maintenance of the grounds and had their classrooms painted. The weed trimmer was acquired from Servall Inc. at a discounted price.

The school’s dull walls were transformed with vibrant colours of blue, green and yellow. The children will also be delighted to see their new vinyl floor covering which complements the classrooms.

The Society Primary School is a rural public school located in St. John and caters to children from 3 to 11 years old. It is one of four educational institutions built on two plantations previously owned by Christopher Codrington III in the 1700’s and is a stone’s throw from the local seminary – Codrington College. The school still sits on the original grounds where it was built in 1914 and has an enrollment of 106 students divided into eight classes.

“Research indicates that the classroom environment can either improve or impede a student’s ability to learn and feel safe and comfortable as a member of the class,” noted Rosalind Clarke, Practice Officer on the Internal Audit team. “We saw this as an excellent opportunity to start on the surroundings of the school and play area and then work our way towards the physical buildings”, she added.

After officially accepting the donation from the Audit team, Principal of the school Ms. Wendy Blackman said that they were forever grateful to CIBC FirstCaribbean for whatever is donated to the school. She added, “I am sure we will put the weed trimmer to good use and the children will benefit greatly from their newly-refurbished surroundings.”

The CIBC FirstCaribbean Adopt-A-Cause programme is an initiative which allows departments of the Bank to volunteer their time, resources and skills to worthy causes. These include repairs and refurbishments to schools and retirement homes, the establishment of school libraries, donations to the HIV/AIDS food bank, contributions to regional feeding programmes and purchasing and packing school supplies for children affected by HIV/AIDS.

CIBC FirstCaribbean branches and departments across the region contribute time, money and skills to more than 100 projects across the Caribbean annually.