School intervention effort delivers encouraging results

Centre: SCPD chief executive officer Shawn Clarke shaking the hand of Trustee Legacy Foundation Wendy Knight-Hunte flanked by teachers, Princess Margaret Secondary School and supporters. (Photo Credit: Lauryn Escamilla/Barbados TODAY) Students taking part in a school-based counselling and behavioural intervention programme are reporting better decision-making, increased confidence and improvements in bullying prevention, according to new findings released by Supreme Counselling for Personal Development (SCPD). The results come as more than 2 000 students across three secondary schools are set to benefit from a $120 000 investment in counselling, behavioural intervention and bullying prevention initiatives during the ongoing academic year. The funding from Legacy Foundation will support SCPD’s National School Intervention Framework, which combines Project RESCUE and the Supreme Safe Schools Initiative. Trustee of Legacy Foundation Wendy Knight-Hunte announced the contribution during the foundation’s presentation to SCPD under the initiative Supporting Safer Schools and Student Well-being Across Barbados at the Harcourt Lewis Training Centre, Belmont Road, St Michael. SCPD Chief Executive Officer Shawn Clarke said feedback collected from 235 students during sessions at St George Secondary and Grantley Adams Memorial in May 2026 suggested the initiatives were making a positive difference. According to the survey carried out in May 2026, 98 per cent of respondents said Project RESCUE helped them make better choices, while almost 88 per cent said they would recommend it to other students. Additionally, 86 per cent reported learning skills they could apply to everyday life and 79 per cent said their self-confidence had improved. You Might Be Interested In Clarke also noted improvements in bullying prevention, reporting an almost eight per cent reduction at Grantley Adams and a decline of more than 11 per cent at St George Secondary. “We do not present these findings as evidence that every behavioural challenge has been resolved. Rather, they provide encouraging early indicators that structured intervention can make a meaningful difference,” he said. The school intervention framework is expected to provide targeted assistance to approximately 683 students at St George Secondary, Princess Margaret Secondary and Grantley Adams Memorial School, while school-wide activities are projected to reach an estimated 2 159 young people. Knight-Hunte said the investment was about more than financial assistance, describing it as a commitment to creating school environments where children feel safe, respected and supported. She explained that Project RESCUE provides counselling, psychosocial support and behavioural interventions for students requiring additional assistance, while the Supreme Safe Schools Initiative focuses on bullying prevention, student leadership and engagement with teachers and parents. Knight-Hunte said the funding would also cover programme delivery, monitoring and evaluation throughout the academic year. Meanwhile, Clarke said the partnership comes at an important time as young people continue to face challenges involving violence, aggression, bullying, disrespect and emotional distress. He warned that disagreements that could be resolved through conversation were increasingly escalating into confrontations, with some disputes originating on social media before spilling into schools and communities. However, he cautioned against labelling children displaying difficult behaviour as “bad children”, noting that their actions often reflected deeper emotional and social challenges. “Our young people are not born violent. They are not born disrespectful. They are not born knowing how to bully, intimidate, or hurt others,” he said. He explained that some children were growing up in environments where aggression was mistaken for strength, while others were dealing with family difficulties, rejection, low self-esteem and hopelessness. “Sometimes the child who appears to be the most disruptive is the very child who needs the greatest level of understanding and intervention,” he said. (LE)