Students listen attentively to their teacher during class.

Nestled on a hill overlooking Brown's Town in the garden parish of St Ann is St Hilda's Diocesan High School for girls.

The school was originally called Deaconess Home High School and was started by Canon James Phillip Hall in 1906.
The school was later renamed Diocesan High School in 1917 by the Anglican Bishop of Jamaica, Enos Nuttall. Then it finally received its present name from the third headmistress, Marion Turner, who named the school after Saint Hilda, abbess of Whitby.

A recipe for success

The school's current cut-stone Elizabethan style architecture is credited to Canon Hall who designed and built the school in 1922.

Heather Reid-Johnson, who has been the school's principal since 2001, supervises the 40 teachers and 965 girls, including 100 borders.

Heather Ried-Johnson principal of St Hilda's High School shows off the school's new tie for fifth form students. (Photos: Garfield Robinson)

The first principal Una Jeffery-Smith founded the school's first boarding house in 1907.

St Hilda's, like Westwood High in Trelawny, is one of the few boarding schools currently operating in Jamaica. However, there have been talks of discontinuing this part of the school's life.

St Hilda's students keeping abreast of the daily news with the Observer.

Johnson said the reason for this is the school's proximity to the bus terminus, however the school board stands firm in its objection of the notion.

"The school board is not for it because we believe it preserves the history and the culture of the place," she said. "And there are some girls who need to board."

The principal confessed that she would be thrilled if it were possible for the majority of her students to become boarders, as it would make the administration of discipline much easier.

"To be honest, I would prefer if most of the girls were borders," she admitted. "We would be able to maintain the discipline much easier, as what is taught during the course of the day would not be undone by the time they go through the gate."

She said she also found that some of the boarders perform better academically.

"I think it has to do with not being sidetracked by not having to go out and get a bus to go home," she said, adding that the boarders have supervised study periods.

One thing that makes St Hilda's unique is that even though it is a school for only girls, the school had one male student in the 1970s - Fabian Escoffrey. He attended the school while his mother was a teacher there.

With their motto being "Hard work brings true joy", over the years St Hilda's has managed to come out on top in their CXC passes. This year they had 100 per cent passes in Home Management, Clothing and Textile and Office Procedures. They also received percentage in the 90s for Social Studies, Agriculture Science and Integrated Science and 86.27 for Spanish. In addition, they received 75.42 per cent passes in literature and English Language.

"We have done very well," the principal boasted. "In fact, last year one of our students obtained seven ones. She is now doing sixth form at Hampton."

Two students will be also receiving CXC awards for top performances in Social Studies- they placed first and third in the island.

The school that is the sister school of Kingston College recently made Spanish a compulsory subject for the students. Johnson said this was done to give the student the edge they need to get into universities, as most universities currently prefer students with a second language.

"When we think about the future, a second language is now a requirement for entry into universities and colleges, so we need to prepare them (students) at this level," she explained, adding that the students have eight entries in this year's Spanish festival.

Last year the Spanish group won trophies for dance, poetry and song.

Students at St Hilda's are also required to stay an hour after school to do homework. "It has been going really good, girls are telling me that their homework is done before they go home," she said.

The awesome responsibility of helping to mould young lives is what Johnson is most proud of as a principal. Johnson says she is honoured to be in a position to help young people and enjoys the challenges that come with her position.

"I think it is a huge task and it is something that I take seriously," she said.

Another reason that brings a smile to her face is when she sees girls who she thought were really going to fall by the wayside recognise the need to improve. "And they do improve,' she said. "It's' about the girls and when they achieve excellence we are in fact very proud."

As a former student of an all-girls' school, Johnson said she is able to relate to the students on a one-to-one basis. "There are times when they need to discuss 'some matters' and you find that you can help," she said. "There are some difficult girls and what I find works is getting closer to them. If we treat them as being bad and problem girls it doesn't help."

A major problem which, according to Johnson, impacts negatively on the students is, absentee parents (parents who migrate). "There are some girls who are really upset that their parents leave," she explained. "You sense a change in their behaviour."

Meanwhile, the school's netball team has done very well, in fact two of the students have tried out for the national team. The swimming team has also participated in competitions. Johnson said the girls have just been introduced to lawn tennis and badminton.

Reid-Johnson believes that teachers are responsible for the students even after school has ended. In addition, she is a strong believer that what teachers do outside of school also matters because they will be labelled as teachers of St Hilda's.

"I think how the principal, teachers and students conduct themselves outside of school is really very important. If their behaviour outside of school is not up to standard then it will reflect poorly on them and the school," she said.

When asked how her students would describe her, Johnson said with a smile on her face: "They (the students) always tell me, Miss you are strict but you're nice."

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