Iona High School in Tower Isle, St. Mary, has officially expanded its classroom space and set its sights on improving its impressive English Language and Mathematics results.At the same time the school is seeking to further increase its space to create better conditions for its population and improve rising performance. The official opening of a new classroom, created from a shipping container, took place on Friday, November 28, in the presence of teachers, students Board members and friends of the school. Melva Humes Johnson in her welcome said the new classroom will prevent students from having to use one of the specialist areas as a classroom. The specialist areas include the Art Room, Music Room and Physics Lab.
The additional 45 spaces created by the new classroom are not enough for the school. They are seeking to build a block to include an additional four classrooms, as well as a canteen. She also mentioned that that the CSEC Mathematics pass rate moved from seventy percent to eighty percent and English Language from fifty three to seventy percent. The chairman of the school’s Board of management, Rev. Dr. Richmond Nelson, in his opening remarks, spoke of the challenges they had constructing the classroom. He said the school was faced with limited funds and had to find innovative ways to transform the container into a classroom. He thanked the sponsors including Kingston Logistics Hub, The school’s board, the ministry of education and others.
Minister of Education, Rev Ronald Thwaites was the guest speaker at the opening of new classroom that will provide opportunities for students to get a better education for a brighter future. “Being educated will change the way how you view this world but make sure you get the Mathematics and English,” said Rev. Thwaites. Dedication of the classroom was done by Rev. Dr. Henroy Samuels and Mrs. Humes-Johnson who accompanied the Minister of Education in cutting the ribbon. Students of the Iona Preparatory and Iona High Schools, that share the same campus, rendered songs as items.
