It was hard to tell who was in charge at the Bloomfield All-Age School in Portland as principal Evette Kirkland was hard at work in the canteen rolling dough to make roti for the school's fund-raising activities.

Adorned in her white apron, a shy smile crept across her face as she worked a rolling pin across the dough - occasionally sprinkling it with flour - that was spread on the table in front of her.

"I'm the principal," she said reassuringly.

Kirkland said the event had stemmed from the realisation that parents had difficulties when it was time for their children to graduate from the school and move on to the secondary level.

"We started this annual event because when it's graduation time, some students weren't able to get a prize and some weren't able to graduate because of financial constraints, so we had this function in June, just weeks before graduation," the principal said.

The funds from the annual activity are used to purchase gifts for those who are graduating, as well as outstanding students, and is a way of motivating students to work hard and continue on the path to success.

"We buy each child a prize and give prizes to students for best attendance, for first place in the class, and being dutiful," she explained.

Kirkland said that while there was no official fee for graduation, girls had been previously required to graduate in white dresses, and boys had to wear black pants and white shirts. As a result, those who could not afford to purchase these stayed at home. She soon decided that it was time to change this policy. "Some parents could not afford it and some students had to stay home and they would feel left out," she said.

Pre-trained teacher

An enthusiastic worker, Kirkland, who was born and raised in the parish, said she had been teaching at the school since 1971, when she was employed as a pre-trained teacher. She still teaches grades five and six and said that there was hardly a day that she left school before 5 p.m., though classes were dismissed at 2:30 p.m.

Kirkland said that over the past five years, there had been different names for the fund-raiser, and this year was no different as it was dubbed 'Old-time Cuisine'. Under the theme, Kirkland explained that they would be preparing traditional food, like janga soup, bussu soup, potato pudding, roti and curry goat.