La Retraite school turns damaged desks into board games |28 May 2018

The La Retraite primary school has implemented a project which entails turning damaged desks into board games such as snake and ladders, checkers.

This is being seen as an alternative to stop bullying at the school as the students will now be pre-occupied with playing board games at their disposal.

The project has been implemented by the school in collaboration with the Ministry of Education as part of the anti-bullying guide-line procedures.

The board games will provide the students with the opportunity to learn and develop personal skills through the process of playing games and also develop a variety of connections with the contents of the games leaving them with positive memories of the games learnt.

The head teacher of the La Retraite primary school, Nadia Marcel, stated that as young learners, students love to play and they participate in a game with more enthusiasm and willingness and learn better when they are active.

“Since we launched the project, the students have been very enthusiastic to play board games during break time. When engaged into an enjoyable game, they are very often willing to invest considerable time and effort in playing it,” she said.

Ms Marcel added that if games are properly designed, they could become an excellent and essential part of a children’s learning and educational programme.

She explained that games are activities with rules and a goal to achieve with an element of fun. Board games seem to be challenging and interesting enough to keep the young students occupied and eager to complete a task while at play.

The idea of transforming damaged desks into board games came from art teacher Terence Belle.

“The project took around eight weeks to be completed, but with hard work we have managed to successfully complete the task on ten damaged tables and we are aiming to create more board games,” he said. 

Micah Renaud, a primary four pupil at the school, was really excited to start playing the board games.

“I really enjoy playing board games with my friends, and it allows us to learn more. At the same time, there is no time for bullying as the board games create a peaceful environment full of fun,” he said.

Also present at the school to view the project was the director general for early childhood in the primary education division, Cyril Pillay.

The accompanying photos show the pupils engrossed in the various board games.