CEDRIC Murray, principal of Ascot High School in Greater Portmore, says faith, a no-nonsense approach, determination, and understanding the needs of underperforming students have led his school to rise from classification as a non-performer to the current A-class status.

When Ascot High School started in 1997, many parents in the surrounding communities were hesitant about having their children attend the new institution, opting for placement in the established traditional schools. Worse, those who were entering Ascot had scored averages below 50 per cent in national exams.

But today, under Murray’s leadership, the institution boasts standard, technical and vocational offerings that have seen students performing exceptionally well in internal and external examinations, speaking volumes to the investment the educators there have made.

Murray said it was this investment — which involved the educators taking time to understand the needs of their underperforming students — that has led to Ascot’s success.

According to Murray, it is through keen assessment of every student who enters the school and by offering them internally designed programmes along with the curriculum of the Ministry of Education that Ascot has been able to perform better than expected in the last five years.

“Our greatest resource as a nation lies in our people. Our children are our greatest resource, so investing in them is not an option. We must invest in them,” Murray stressed.

He explained how the educators at Ascot High have encouraged the students to perform better, which has led Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites to sanction the introduction of a sixth-form programme at the start of the upcoming academic year.

“One major way in which we have addressed underperformance is through creating an online system where our teachers can upload every document students need for their classes. Our students and teachers have an online system which they all have a password to. They can go online and interact, access the notes for their classes, and upload their assignments. They have no excuse, because everything is available to them online and they can access the work from their computers at home,” Murray said.

Addressing underperformance, which he ascribes primarily to societal influences, Murray said this is a major challenge which he has been tackling with the teachers at his school.

“We are particularly challenged by the spillover of the behaviour from the wider society, but we have been able, over the years, to put programmes in place to address it. This is how we overcame that challenge and improved our school,” the principal, who has been part of the Ascot High family for the past 11 years, told Career & Education.

“We have put programmes in place to address underperformance. Our underperforming students have to come back in the summer, dressed in their uniforms, for academic intervention if they fail, and the community is in support of it,” he added, before boasting that the school has won numerous trophies and competitions in the arts within the last five years.

Come September, Ascot will accommodate 60 students from the institution in its sixth-form programme. This is a major challenge that many traditional high schools have yet to take up.

“We are seeking more financial support for that. Already we have got the commitment of approximately $2 million from the Minister of Education, Member of Parliament for South St Catherine, Fitz Jackson, and Mayor of Portmore, George Lee. However, we need more to renovate and place more computers here for the students to use, especially in the afternoon where they can access their schoolwork online in our virtual environment which our administrators have created,” he said.

Last month, ground was broken for the construction of the sixth-form block.

The programme will offer subjects in the humanities and science and technology areas, as well as courses in professional development and leadership training.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony, Minister Thwaites said that the subjects to be offered are significant and fit in with the policy direction of the ministry.

“This is quite different from the traditional sixth form and it expresses precisely the policy of the Ministry of Education, which lifts up the academic subjects that are the traditional (ones). You will be offering much more than that at an advanced level, because you will be offering technical and vocational studies and artistic and cultural studies,” the minister said.

Thwaites emphasised that this is of vital importance, as the 21st-century job market demands not only academic advancement, but also technical and vocational competences.

Chairman of the school board Pauline McKenzie said that the idea for the sixth-form programme was conceptualised nine months ago.

“We are indeed proud of the achievements of the school; therefore the introduction of a sixth-form programme epitomises the seriousness with which Ascot High School has taken its responsibility to provide the best facilities toward the educational development of its students,” she said.

Ascot High is a co-educational secondary school for 11 to 18-year-olds. It shares a site with Ascot Primary School, Ascot Basic School and a large, multi-purpose sports field used by all three schools.

— Additional reporting from JIS