One of this country’s young educators will be opening the doors of a new primary school when the next academic year begins in September.
Brandon Dowell, 27, who has spent the last eight years offering private lessons as director of the Bright Sparks Academy, has signalled his intention to expand the operation.
In an interview, Dowell revealed that the Bright Sparks Primary and Pre-School will operate from his Britton’s Hill, St Michael hometown. He said a major area of focus will be the provision of “personal attention” for the young ones under his care.
“A defining feature of my school is that we are not going to do classes past 12 students,” Dowell told Barbados TODAY.
“The space is adequate to always fit a class of 12 and one of the reasons why I have done things this way is because I learn in small groups as well. That is something I wanted to give to the students of Barbados,” the educator added.
Dowell’s journey as an educator started as an accounting student at the University of the West Indies, where he led small group classes. It was around the time when Barbadian students were asked to cover their own tuition fees and for Dowell, the lessons helped cover the costs.
His decision shortly after to offer extra lessons to school-aged children immediately became a hit. Within a short time, he assembled a team of young teachers with a passion for making a positive impact.
Over the last eight years, he also opened the Bright Sparks Institute, now named the Barbados School of Entrepreneurship to provide “tertiary level” education. This provided some insight into the tedious process of opening an accredited institution.
“I had already established a school before, so things like curriculum, things like knowing where to go to get the fire and safety and the health inspections, those are things that were already familiar to me. So moving from a tertiary institution to a primary institution was not a complex process,” Dowell disclosed.
But he admitted that finding a location to bring his vision to life was one of the more difficult aspects of the process.
“At first I was thinking of maybe going into St Philip or somewhere else where I would be able to get more land availability. But I am from Britton’s Hill. That is where I grew up, that is where I lived for all the years of my life and I never felt good about leaving the community to establish my school, because the people in the community were the ones who pushed me to open the school,” the Bright Sparks founder explained.
“So I looked around, I went all over the area as close to Britton’s Hill as I could find and I didn’t have any luck. I was very close to giving up and it’s so funny that many of the things that you are looking for are often right in front of your face.
“Literally right around the corner, at the moment I was about to give up, I saw a “for rent” sign and things started moving from there,” he added.
The announcement of Dowell’s new academy followed a statement from one of the country’s oldest private institutions, the Ursuline Convent, regarding the imminent closure of the institution. Since then, others have admitted that the current climate is particularly difficult for the administrators of private schools.
But Dowell declared that he would not be daunted by the challenge and would lean on his background in accounting and business development to guide him.
The 27-year-old said he would be starting with 50 students and bringing on some of his part-time tutors full-time.
“One thing that I’ve noticed observing private education over a period of time, is that it needs to be affordable. Our school will be characterised by affordability and flexible payments, to cater to middle-class persons,” said Dowell.
“It’s something that will be pretty affordable. Even so, we will be partnering with corporate organisations who will be able to offer scholarships to persons in the community as well.
The educator and businessman has also promised to take an enlightened approach to education that goes beyond traditional academics.
“In this day and age, if you say to someone that you can simply go to school, get an education and that is going to lead to a fulfilled life, I think we would be leading them down the wrong path,” said Dowell.
“I think there are other skills that need to be acquired, such as communication, teamwork, leadership, and management, that are going to really allow someone to stand out.
“We need to prepare our students from an early age to be equipped with life-skills that can actually help them in life and also be academically competent. We will be planting the seeds from early, so that when we introduce those life skills and those concepts at the secondary and even the tertiary level, we would have greater success,” he added. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
