of the issues touched on during a series of education forums held at seven of the Island's schools on Tuesday night.

Minutes from the meetings, in which the public were invited to offer their opinions on how they thought Bermuda's children should be schooled by 2005, will be compiled and presented to Education Minister Milton Scott in the next few weeks.

Yesterday, Sen. Scott, who made an appearance at three of the meetings, told The Royal Gazette he felt the programme had been "very worthwhile''.

He said those present had covered a wide range of topics, from I.T. to literacy to how schools could keep in better communication with parents as to how their child is developing.

"All of this information will be collected and presented to the Ministry and we will respond to what the public said and perhaps formulate our policy around it,'' Sen. Scott said.

And Board of Education chairwoman A. Constance McHardy, who attended the meeting at St. George's Preparatory school, said her impression was that the initiative had been an overall success.

"I think everyone who came out appreciated the opportunity to offer their input and many of them said they would like to see it happen again,'' she added.

Asked what areas were touched on at her meeting, to which around 35 people turned up, Ms McHardy said the exact information would not be available for a few weeks until it had been compiled by a task force made up members of the public.

But she noted that much of the energy of those present had focused on the problem of making sure that the needs every individual child were properly catered for at school.

"Those attending wanted to see that there are enough special programmes and services available to meet the needs of every child and that the uniqueness and individuality of each student is developed in the proper way,'' Ms McHardy said.

"There was an emphasis on the importance of music, art and language programmes, even at the primary level, so that each child's abilities are developed in whatever area they show a strength,'' she added.

Another issue brought up during the forum was that of how well schools are able to cooperate with the community at large.

"A lot of people wanted to highlight the importance of the entire community working together in education,'' Ms McHardy said, "and the need for all stake holders to take part in the process.

The board chairwoman said this was the first time she had seen this kind of series of public forums take place in the area of Bermuda's education.

"One of the things that was especially good was the fact that the people actually saw all of their comments and concerns being written down and knowing that something was going to come of it,'' she said.

"It was a perfect opportunity to share ideas in a group and record the information in a manner that was not critical.'' Education board member Sheelagh Cooper also said she thought the meetings were successful in what they were trying to do but she added: "This is just the beginning of the process.

"The public really expressed a desire to continue to participate in this consultative process in order that the education system will stay in touch with the people's vision.'' She also named one of the concerns of those present at the meetings as cooperation with the community.

"There needs to be a seamless connection between education and the community,'' she said. "Most of our children's learning actually takes place outside the classroom and I guess it has to be a collaborative effort if we're ever going to achieve excellence in the education system.'' Another one of the themes to raise its head during the sessions was that of accountability, according to Ms Cooper, and the responsibility of the teacher to make sure a child is at a certain level of development before moving on to the next stage of schooling.