THE 155-year-old Georgian structure standing firm on a hillside in Malvern, St Elizabeth above the Pedro Plains and the breathtaking Caribbean Sea, and the old-fashioned warm greeting, “Good morning sir, how may I help you?” by confident students, belie the modernity which now forms the heart of teaching and learning at Hampton School.

“Technology is the way we have to go,” Principal Heather Murray said. “We have to catch up with these girls.”

The school, which still in positive ways reflects some of the regal elements of colonial society, has been steadily moving beyond the traditional “chalk and talk” method of teaching into the era of information and communication technology (ICT), to prepare its young ladies for the changing world.

“At Hampton we believe we are one step ahead of the game,” Murray said.

The school recently acquired 90 Huawei computer tablets from Digicel, which it was able to access through special loan funding with Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS).

The tablets have been assigned to the 67 teachers and some administrators, to further enrich learning and management.

The devices were uploaded with a special programme created by Cyber School Technology Solutions to assist teachers to impart maths and science lessons in a more interactive mode. Cyber School, which was already available in the institution, allows teachers to take the students into a virtual world where the intricacies of maths, chemistry, biology and physics are demonstrated.

The use of the Cyber School technology and other methodologies in the classroom are already influencing the performance of students in math and sciences, Murray said.

And interestingly, the use of ICT has spurred increased interest in all subject areas. This interest is reflected in recent student performance in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, in which all 157 students who did IT passed the subject, with 120 receiving grade ones and 28 students receiving grade twos.

With the tablet devices now available, Murray projects that learning and performance will be even more outstanding.

“We are excited and the teachers are excited. Can you imagine trying to go into a classroom with 42 girls and being able to research something right there on your tablet?” a thrilled Murray said.

“There will be no more excuse for not delivering,” Trevor Blake, chairman of the school board added. “I know we achieved 100 per cent passes for physics, 98 and 99 per cent passes for chemistry and biology; however, now I believe that it is possible to achieve more. I don’t simply want 100 per cent passes, I want 100 per cent grade ones,” he challenged teachers.

And, he pointed to the school’s year 2020 goal, which is to ensure that every Hampton student leaves the institution with no fewer than eight CSEC subjects, which include five grade ones.

“We are a school on a mission and we want to show all Jamaica what you can achieve when you have a dedicated staff,” he said.