ONCE CONSIDERED as one of Westmoreland’s most challenging schools, Godfrey Stewart High, centrally located in the bustling town of Savanna-la-Mar, is becoming a school of choice for parishioners and rapidly gaining a reputation as Westmoreland’s centre for mathematics.
A participant in the Centres of Excellence programme, innovated and implemented by the Jamaica National Building Society and the Victoria Mutual Building Society, under the auspices of the Mutual Building Societies Foundation from 2008 to 2013, Godfrey Stewart has been experiencing significant improvements in its performance in the core subjects of English, mathematics and science.
However, its improvement in mathematics has been receiving the
greatest attention in recent times. Led by Oneal McLeod, who is the recent recipient of the JNBS-sponsored Mathematics Teacher of the Year Award by the Ministry of Education, the school has been leveraging its advantage and positioning itself to become Westmoreland’s leading school in mathematics.
“In the past, students from [other schools would] never even glance over here. Now, students are coming from several other institutions because they want our teachers to teach them,” principal Theobold Fearon underscored.
“We’re already on our way to being the centre for maths in Westmoreland and we want to be recognized as the school that does extremely well in mathematics in Jamaica,” he declared.
Oneal McLeod and his students go through the weekly study guide in Youthlink.
Godfrey Stewart High’s principal, Theobold Fearon, gets down to work in his office.
Miss Erica Cooke, head of the English Language Department, assists her fourth-form students with a task.
Past students (from left) Anthony Stubbs, president of the Godfrey Stewart High School Past Students’ Association; Neville Wilson, president of the ParentTeachers’ Association; and Devon Dobson, president of the Florida/Bahamas Chapter of the Godfrey Stewart High School Past Students’ Association, pause for a picture. There has been renewed interest in the school, the past students say, as performance improves. The Florida/Bahamas Association recently made a significant monetary contribution to the school’s breakfast programme.
Welcome to Godfrey Stewart High School, one of six rural high schools under the Centres of Excellence programme run by Jamaica National Building Society and the Victoria Mutual Building Society from 2008 to 2013. The school has been experiencing improved performance following its participation in the leadership initiative.
Mathematics Teacher of the Year Oneal McLeod sets up the lesson for the day in his third-form classroom. The topic? You guessed it, trigonometry. Godfrey Stewart is positioning itself to become the mathematics centre of Westmoreland in the short term.
This student pauses for the camera on his way to class.
Just a few of Godfrey Stewart’s recent academic and sporting awards tucked neatly in the office of principal Theobold Fearon. The school has experienced significant transformations since its participation in the Centres of Excellence programme and will continue to improve.
Students literally walk along Excellence Path on their way to class. In keeping with lessons learnt from the Centres of Excellence programme, the school renamed all its corridors to depict the values it wants its students to adopt and display.