Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth — Sandra Shakespeare leaves the listener in no doubt.

When she first heard that her 12-year-old was being placed at rebranded Sydney Pagon STEM Academy in secluded Elim, north-east St Elizabeth, she was most displeased.

“I wasn’t at all pleased about it; I didn’t want him to come here,” she told Jamaica Observer Central at the recent STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Day at the school, which is named in honour of the late parliamentarian Sydney Pagon.

For Shakespeare, everything has changed over the past year. Now, she says, she is happy and thankful that she allowed her son to stay at Sydney Pagon STEM Academy.

“Now I feel great, I feel real good about [it]; I am pleased, I am very pleased… I have seen changes in him since the second term; the first term wasn’t so good for him, but the second term I have seen a lot of changes and I am so proud of him,” said Shakespeare.

She pointed the Observer Central to an essay written by her son Jaheim Charlton, which was published in the school’s newsletter as evidence of his academic growth. Young Charlton who wants to be a pilot, described in lively detail his experience of a helicopter visit to the school.

Her son’s attitude had also improved immeasurably, Shakespeare said.

“He was sort of on the aggressive side, he is not that anymore. Even with his brothers sometimes he would quarrel, he doesn’t anymore,” she said with a smile.

Educators claim such improvement can be largely attributed to the project-based learning approach embedded in the STEM curriculum, which they say not only helps students to rapidly build knowledge in science, technology, engineer-ing and mathematics, but also self-confidence.

The Sydney Pagon Academy, which was restructured last September to accept grade seven students for the very first time, is being treated as a pilot for the Ministry of Education’s STEM programme. That programme is to be extended to schools across Jamaica, with an especial emphasis at technical high schools, as part of the drive to ensure young Jamaicans are trained for the rapidly evolving global job market.

The school’s newsletter provided more evidence of the value of the STEM learning approach in promoting critical and analytical thinking. Grade seven writer Sherrian Facey told how she learnt in English class about “making predictions … a skill we use in our daily life”.

And her appreciation of Mathematics was heightened after she was assigned to “go outside and measure the area that we needed for the foundation of a house”.

First opened in 1979 on more than 200 acres of land as an agricultural training school — a cornerstone in the then Michael Manley-led Government’s campaign to get Jamaicans to feed themselves — Sydney Pagon Agricultural High School was developed as a boarding institution for students at the post-grade nine level.

School leaders and Ministry of Education officials say the agricultural component will remain, but the overall focus has changed in the new-look school.

Marlene Edwards-Gayle, vice-principal at Sydney Pagon STEM Academy, says the entrance of grade seven students in 2014 and the focus on a curriculum which channels science, technology, engineering and mathematics into all subject areas promises to breathe new life into high school education.

“Our emphasis is on equipping, students to become critical thinkers and to be enquiring and also to be prepared for the world of work nationally and internationally,” she told Observer Central.

“The programme is structured in such a way that the students take control of their learning and the teachers act as facilitators. The students are therefore guided into project-based learning, where they will do their research, they will come up with their own activities, and the teacher provides guidance…” she added.

Mark Smith, community relations education officer at the Ministry of Education’s Region Five headquarters in Mandeville, underlined the STEM message.

“We need to readjust our approach (in education) to meet the demands of the globalised world and the jobs available now,” he said.

Visitors to Sydney Pagon on STEM Day, including Smith, saw evidence of some of the projects being attempted. Students showed off their science laboratory skills, craft making and culinary arts; visitors also had opportunities to experience a developing nature trail and the farm — inclusive of green houses and slaughter house. The school is currently self-sufficient in chicken meat.

Science and home economics teacher Natalie Roper Allen showed off the creation of decorations and wall hangings from recycled plastic and paper products, and even “buttons from coconut shells”. A host of farm products and natural herbs are being converted to goods of added economic value, she said.

And she illustrated the hypothetical situation of a rural family, “finding tourists entering their community” starting a bed and breakfast enterprise and making meals using sweet potato “from the farm to make pancakes, honey to make syrup, milk to make cheese, oranges for juice”.

It was all part of the process of opening up avenues of thought for young Jamaicans, she said.

While the focus of the school is now much broader and far more elaborate, Smith insists that the agricultural programme at Sydney Pagon STEM Academy will remain strong.

“We are re-infusing agriculture for a 21st century work place,” he boasted. He pointed to the existence of two green houses, and plans for more advanced protected farming through hydroponics, “so kids can see that there is a good job” to be had in agriculture.

Students will also gain access to skills to be certified by the training institution HEART Trust/NTA. “So you will find a student graduating with eight CXCs, but also coming out with a Level One in plumbing and a Level Two in tractor repair and engine repair, which makes (him/her) better able to meet the demands of the job market right now,” said Smith.

There is much more uncertainty about boarding, an aspect of the school which has been a constant since it was first opened 36 years ago.

All agree that boarding helps in proper “socialisation” of students, but there is the competing demand for classroom space; a demand that is bound to grow as the reputation of the new-look school builds over the next few years.

Current boarders who entered at grade nine level — the last batch in 2013 — will exit within a year. There is a strong feeling that the vacated boarding space should be converted to class rooms.

As the situation now stands, just under 100 grade seven students have now completed their first year at Sydney Pagon. The school year ended with a total student complement of 182 (inclusive of Grade 10 and 11), when in theory the school has a capacity for 300 students.

The current enviable classroom ratio of one classroom subject teacher for every 25 students is unlikely to last as grade seven entrants’ numbers grow, school leaders say.

“Hopefully we will get new buildings … we are definitely going to need additional space if we are going to go upwards of 500 students,” said Edwards-Gayle.

A more immediate concern is transportation. Elim is remotely situated away from frequently used public transport routes. That has presented a problem for children from northern St Elizabeth in particular.

The direct drive from Balalclava, for instance, should take no longer than about 15 minutes. However, currently students from that north-eastern highlands community sometimes reach school very late because of transportation difficulties.

According to Shakespeare, transport cost is also a major factor — running to as much as $400 daily.

The situation cries out for a dedicated school bus system to serve Sydney Pagon, says Shakespeare.

“I would feel more secure knowing there is a direct bus, because of all that is going on sometimes you really have to worry,” she said.

She argued that the situation dillustrates the need for the school to relax current restrictions on the use of cell phones by children.

“If they could take their phones to school, you could at least keep in contact,” she said.

“They (the school) could give them (students) the chance to take the phone to school but ask them to turn it off… or even (the school) keep it (phone) for them, and when they are leaving the compound you hand it back because (parents) really want to be able to keep in touch (with their children),” she said.

“With the transportation problem, it would be good if parents could call their children to find out where they are, and then you wouldn’t have to worry so much,” Shakespeare said.