Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/6046/-1/223/
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A short time ago I chatted to a very interesting gentleman at a farewell dinner for a mutual friend. His name is Gordon Cillis and he volunteers his time at the Workshop Initiative for Support in Education, Anguilla, otherwise known as WISE Anguilla.
This Initiative is producing good results in working with children who find it difficult ‘fitting in’ in mainstream school and who need a respite with support, encouragement and praise for appropriate behaviour and completed work. Adapted from an Isle of Wight, UK, concept in 2004, the pilot scheme involved a group of 4th Form boys who worked on woodwork, boat building and ceramics projects. In early 2005 a group of 3rd Formers joined WISE.
By September 2005 the project was a full time one with students tackling such diverse areas as carpentry, model boat building, agriculture, jewellery, ceramics and art.
70 children a week were taking part by September 2006 and bamboo, glass work and a tree nursery were added to the projects, closely followed by literacy and IT.
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Mr. Gordon Cillis
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The project hit 120children, including girls, in September 2007 and added a culinary workshop sponsored by the Soroptomists in a commercial kitchen. At this time a primary programme and WISE Plus, for children at risk also began. Swimming lessons were added at the start of this year and later in the year an engine repair and go carting workshop will begin.
Students with a practical inclination are chosen for the project based on their behavioural problems. Students choose which areas they are interested in and attend between one and five mornings a week. The student attends mainstream school for the rest of the curriculum. The instructors are qualified volunteers who actively support, encourage, assist and praise students to focus on improving attitude, work skills and self-management.
WISE held a celebratory open day on Thursday 29 May at the Cottage Hospital on Crocus Hill, which was reported on by this newspaper at the time. I went along to meet Gordon and see some of the boats being built by the students.
Gordon has been teaching boat design and building for three years. He showed me the boat building workshop, a large airy room which was formerly one of the hospital wards. Now it is full of model boats in various stages of manufacture and I was amazed at the sheer number and variety of the models. Boat building is very popular.
Gordon explained how the boats are made, “They are fibre glass and Styrofoam inside and then we seal them and then coat them with a resin and put a little weight on the bottom. It takes about 6 weeks [to build a model boat] depending on the size and the number of times the student works on it. If he only comes once a week it could take 2 months. If he comes a couple of times a week, and some do, then he has that extra time and it takes about 6 weeks. It takes a lot of sanding of the fibre glass then we put a rudder on it and 3 pieces of copper inside and then the boat will tack on a curve.”
I expected the finished boats to be heavy and was surprised to find them very light when I lifted one. “I designed the patterns for it,” says Gordon. “They can use them as a guide, it gives you the shape for the Styrofoam and then there are other boats which require parts which fit on. You develop it from there.” Indicating some of the larger patterns Gordon continues, “These are for kids who want to build big boats; they start from here.
“There are 2 different building methods, Styrofoam or wooden. The most popular are the Styrofoam as wooden ones take the children a long time.” It is clear that boat building teaches the students useful skills. “They have learnt a whole range of different skills; cutting, measuring, shaping,” says Gordon. “It’s a wonderful thing to learn. I enjoy it. I only do it Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays but my counter- part, who teaches wood work is here too and he knows a lot more than me.”
The average age of the boat building students is 16. The standard of work is very high.
Gordon is keen to acknowledge assistance that the project has received from members of the community. “David Carty supplies us with a lot of things and is very supportive. He also gives us a young man on his staff who builds. He came here literally to help us. We have a lot of stuff donated to us; the plaster came from Albert Lake, the Styrofoam from Merchant’s Market. We are recycling and we use basic tools, just a blade to cut the Styrofoam and saws.”
Looking to the future Gordon continued, “We are going to build boats for two or three people.” The project has had a dinghy donated to it, “We are going to refurbish that and we are also going to start the same concept as what we do with the models, so that they can go to sea. The programme is not set up yet. The idea is to get to the point where the next level of senior students build a big boat and their reward for all that work will be actually sailing the boat.”
The Open Day was very popular with many people coming to look at the exhibits made by the children. The Governor, His Excellency Mr Andrew George, toured the facility and was impressed by the activities of the group. The Governor’s Office is a financial supporter of the project.
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For more information on WISE Anguilla contact: +264 497 7372 or the Albena Lake Comprehensive School.
Kessler Thomas with his model boats
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