ISLINGTON High School in St Mary has been renamed in honour of former Member of Parliament Horace Clarke who was instrumental in its establishment.

The official renaming of the school was done at a ceremony last month which was attended by several members of the People’s National Party (PNP) including former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites and leader of the Senate Floyd Morris. Clarke, who died in 2010, served as MP for St Mary Central, West Central and Northern St Mary and held several government minister portfolios in the PNP. He retired from politics in 2002.

At the renaming ceremony, principal Lieutenant Errol Johnson expressed his vision for the institution which has grown from a junior secondary school to the present high school. He made a call for the resources to be made available so the school can be one or which Jamaica will be proud.

“We see ourselves becoming an institution that will cater to the strength of our children . We are not asking for children with better GSAT results. What we will do is make our children perform better, moving forward progressively in the field of their choice,” Johnson said.

With this vision in mind, Johnson said, with the necessary resources, the school can become a school of choice.

“We will make Horace Clarke High to be the high school of choice; one that will take into consideration the strengths, desires and ambitions of our children and hence the needs of our country. Help us with the required resources and we guarantee you that our children will be qualified Jamaicans we will all be proud of,” he said.

Meanwhile, residents are happy with the decision to rename the school in honour of the former member of parliament.

“The people are in agreement,” Joseph Wellington, a member of the community said.

“He was a man for the people; he set the trend,” he said, adding that Clarke was a hard-working MP and so residents in Islington are happy with the renaming of the school.

–Renae Dixon