St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—The government is targeting the start of the January 2027 school semester for the official opening of the new Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School as construction work on the facility continues to make steady progress.
Construction on the replacement school began in 2025, and official seal work is advancing on schedule.
“Unique project with three contractors, so there are three active construction sites happening at the same time. Everyone knows that the school was decimated by a fire. It would have been easy to rebuild a structure that was the same size with similar specifications but the public works department took it upon themselves to design a state-of-the-art structure to improve the quality of life of the students and the staff and the community at large in Molyneux.”
The original institution was destroyed back in March 2022 after an arsonist set the building ablaze during a late-night incident, forcing students and staff to relocate while plans were developed for a new facility.
“We took the building from a size of 8,400 square feet to a new size of 25,500 square feet, which represents a tripling in the size of the structure itself. I’ll start with the teachers. We gave them a quality-of-life boost in giving them a larger staff room, a dedicated lunch area, and different points in this structure for themselves to have different views and different areas to just lime and hang out and spend time throughout the day instead of being cooped up in the staff area. We gave them dedicated bathrooms as well as a dedicated library area sort of as well as a library area for the children. The children they were equipped with classrooms that are 1.5 times the size of the classrooms that were there before as well as state-of-the-art laboratories for them to conduct science experiments in.”
During a press conference on Tuesday (June 15, 2026), officials from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Infrastructure provided an update on the project, noting that construction is expected to be completed later this year, paving the way for the school to welcome students in early 2027.
The new facility will feature an expanded auditorium capable of accommodating a variety of school and community events.
“For the community, we provided an auditorium. It will have triple use. The first use will obviously be for the school to have their plays, and their performances and whatnot. For the community, it will double as a community centre.”
In addition to serving educational needs, the building has been designed to function as a hurricane shelter during disasters, providing a safe space for residents when required.
“And the third use is we designed it as a hurricane shelter for when the area is being devastated. The school is fully equipped with a cistern as well as a generator for when the amenities are gone. We believe that this will not just serve the teachers and the students, but the community at large, and we hope to have similar projects in the future for the other areas. Everyone wants to know when we’ll be finished. So it’s been ongoing for just about 11 and a half months. It’s expected to be fully completed by October, including all the fixtures and finishes. So we’re looking for the students to be able to utilise the school for the January term.”
The construction of the new Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School is expected to cost approximately EC$8 million.
