From Student to Principal of Lime Hall Primary
Janet J Haye started her life, that led her to become Principal of Lime Hall Primary School, nearly 60 years ago, in that same community of Lime Hall, near St Ann’s Bay.
In fact, she went to that very primary school as a child and ended her official teaching career there in July, retiring as Principal after more than 40 years in education.
There were many twists and turns along this path taken by Miss Haye who spent her life dedicated to education. For that service, she has been recognized by her peers with the Golden Torch Award – the second highest given by the Jamaica Teachers Association.
That’s an exceptional achievement for a girl who wasn’t keen on teaching. In fact, when she completed Ferncourt High School, Claremont in the parish, Janet Haye had no idea what she would do. Somewhere in the back of her mind was the idea that she would become an actress. She confesses she doesn’t even know where that idea came from.
Her mother died when Janet was only two years old and it was her grandmother and elder sister, Consie, who guided the young Janet.
One evening, after learning that Moneague College in the parish was accepting applicants to become teachers, the “no-nonsense Consie” told Janet she should go and register.
Janet didn’t even know where Moneague was but she went, aced the tests, especially the Math, and the rest, as they say, is history. Well, not quite, because the same Consie was a constant, a comforter to her younger sister when, as often happened, Janet had issues at work or in her personal life.
She describes Consie as “a very Christian person” whose oft-repeated response was, even to lamentations about problems, “In all things, give thanks.”
AFTER MONEAGUE
After graduating from Moneague College, Janet’s first job was away from home, up in Bensonton at the All Age school, near the border with Clarendon.
After that, Mrs Hawthorne the wife of her former principal at Lime Hall Primary, Stanley Hawthorne, invited Janet to consider a temporary teaching position at the school. She started there in 1990, teaching Grade 4 and then Grade 1. She went on to being a senior teacher and acted as Vice Principal before being appointed Principal in 2011.
SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT
Miss Haye leaves the school satisfied that she has made a strong, positive mark on it. For her, the important measures of the school’s success are literacy and numeracy levels. When she took the reins, literacy levels were at 53% compared to 90% when she finished. Numeracy also improved, with the scores moving from an average 40% to more than double, at 88%.
“I was always passionate about the Lime Hall community and the [Lime Hall Primary] School and was determined to do well,” she says of her motivation to lead the school. She admits it was not easy to lead and lift the school’s standards.
Former Board Chairman Dameon McNally who served for ten years during Ms Haye’s tenure said, “Miss Haye gave selfless service to her school. With utmost sincerity, she played the role of parent, teacher, counsellor, nurse, and chief motivator in ensuring students, teachers, and administrative staff were given the best opportunity to showcase their true potential.”
He said, with her knowledge of the Education Code, Miss Haye also provided great support to the Board and ensured adherence to the governance principles.
She thanks her staff, parents, the community, and supporters of the school, including past students for making Lime Hall Primary successful.
PTA President for more than 15 years Estimena Christie said: “She is a motivator. She doesn’t easily give up, when she had a task to do she focuses and gets her team with her. She is a winner.”
Miss Haye credits many in the school for what she was able to achieve.
She said the teachers bought into the vision of performance and worked hard. Some community members volunteered in several ways, even sitting in for teachers who had to be away from school. There was no shortage of resources, with help for bags, books and other supplies even coming from past students in the New York chapter. She said teachers worked extra time with classes at evenings, on Saturdays and even on Sundays. Literacy flourished. “It made my work very easy. The teachers, the teachers they were so creative,” she said.
She believes the school, with more than 260 students and 10 teachers, will continue to flourish.
Now she is retired but Miss Haye is not done yet with adding value to young lives. There is a basic school connected to Lime Hall Baptist Church where she worships, and she is already helping them administratively and providing guidance.
Perhaps somewhere in one of those classes is a little girl who, like Janet nearly sixty years ago, doesn’t even know that she’ll become a torch bearer. Perhaps right there in Lime Hall.
“In all things give thanks,” the mantra and guiding philosophy bought from sister Consie. “I have learned to give thanks for whatever there is,” says Golden Torch recipient, Janet Haye.
