Mandeville, Manchester — With 165 students and six permanent classroom teachers, Albion Primary School in central Manchester has been incrementally building on a legacy over 100 years.

Principal Paulette Chedda told the Jamaica Observer Central that according to the school’s  records, which date back to 1894, the authorities started officially registering students in that year.

However, the school building was previously a mission house, to accommodate parishioners of the United Church, and is believed to have been a place where students were also educated.

She said that the records allow the institution to have a “starting place” even though an exact date has not been established to properly determine when it all began.

Believing that the past and the future are intrinsically connected, the theme for Albion Primary’s anniversary celebration this year is “120 years and More: Roots, Branches and Beyond.”

“We think that in today’s society it is important for us to know our history and as a church school we make sure that our students know that the roots is the (Ebenezer United) church…,” said Chedda.

She said that the institution, which is some three miles South of Mandeville, is not merely focused on improving academics but on values and social skills.

“Our work never ends. It goes on as our students leave this place and plant their own seeds,” said Chedda, who has been the principal at Albion Primary since 2007.

She said that the aim is to change both attitudes to school work and life in general.

Chedda said that to help in that regard Northern Caribbean University has introduced a Restorative Justice Programme for the benefit of teachers, parents and students, which further promotes the values of love, respect and peace in the school.

It has been an “uphill task” as Albion Primary moves forward but there have been proud moments, said Chedda.

“Three years ago we were all quite frustrated as teachers and wondered if we are going to get there academically and socially. We are at a place now where we are thanking God and seeing the fruits of our labour,” she said.

Chedda said that mastery in the Grade Four Literacy Test, which is a major academic marker, has moved from 37 per cent in 2007 to 74 per cent in 2013.

Albion Primary is the 2010 champion of the Junior Debate International competition and placed second in 2009 and 2011.

The school has entered other public speaking competitions, science competitions and participated in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Festival of Performing Arts last year and was awarded for music.

Chedda said that when the now mothballed Alumina Partners of Jamaica (ALPART) was in operation the school participated in a number of safety programmes organised by that company.

The school is the 2013 parish and regional winner of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWA) clean school competition and is hoping to nab that title again this year.

Chairman of the School Board Reverend Khereen Bailey said that there are many plans, including infrastructural development.

“(It will take) resources which we don’t have but we continue to seek partnerships with other persons. We hope that at the end of the day we will be able to build a new school. That is our eventual vision…. so that learning can be better facilitated and enhanced,” she said.

School administrators are grateful to members of the First Presbyterian Church of Nashville in the United States who recently constructed an additional room on the school compound large enough to house two classrooms.

Further assistance is now being sought for a ceiling and the installation of electricity in the new building.

Chedda said parental involvement has been a challenge. However, the example set by persons from Nashville has encouraged more parents, past students and community members to reach out.

In 2012, 27 parents of students of the Albion Primary School became the first rural cohort of beneficiaries of a Parenting Involvement and Awareness Programme organised by the Barita Education Foundation.

Celebrations for the anniversary year end in October with the launch of a Past Students’ Association and staging of the Anniversary Reunion Banquet.