July 2, 2018, Nassau, Bahamas: Lower grade students at Garvin Tynes Primary School in Nassau will start the new school year in September with almost $20,000 worth of new literacy tools courtesy of the Sandals Foundation. The supplies, which were handed over by Sandals Royal Bahamian team members on report card day (June 21), is part of the foundation’s mission to boost the grade one literacy program at the school.

Grade one teacher at Garvin Tynes Primary, Senovia Taylor, commented, “When we reached out to Sandals regarding partnering with our school, mainly to assist us in overhauling our literacy programs, we were so pleased at their enthusiasm to form a relationship with us. Our students have already shown markable improvement since we began to overhaul our reading program and this assistance from the Sandals Foundation will be of even more benefit to the children.”

The resources donated include five sets each of Scholastic Alphabet Letters and Pictures Super Set, Word Building and Photo Tiles, Sentence Building Tiles Sets, Magnetic Daily Word – Building Centres and Level 1 and Level 2 Readers. US – based comprehensive learning solutions company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, also donated over 100 new books towards the program.

Executive Director of the Sandals Foundation, Heidi Clarke, said “We were very excited to support the Garvin Tynes Primary School on this literacy program because, like other educational institutions in Nassau that we’ve worked with, the students here exhibit great potential and enthusiasm to learn and absorb new information, they just need the proper learning tools to do so. We are also honored to help make the jobs of the dedicated teachers a bit easier for the upcoming school year.”

The aim of the literacy program is to create a realistic 21^st century learning environment by introducing new technological methods for students to learn and grasp concepts across the curriculum. Through partnerships with schools in The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia and Grenada, the Sandals Foundation continues their work to create the best learning environment for children across the region. The Sandals Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Sandals and Beaches Resorts.