Jonathan Grant High School in Spanish Town, St Catherine has been diligently changing its narrative by improving the academic performance of its students and crafting a new identity for the school.

In the recently concluded 2016 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams, more than 170 students attained five or more CSEC subjects, with 102 of those passing both English Language and mathematics. More than 80 passed seven or more subjects while more than 50 students obtained four or more Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) passes.

Some students also gained major achievements in the region. They included: Jowaine Jones, who placed seventh in Caribbean Food and Nutrition in CAPE and Abigail Brown who placed 10th.

This follows on the school’s 2014 performance in CSEC when Shemar Jackson placed first in mechanical engineering in the Caribbean, while his peer, Tajae Samuels, placed 10th; and Samantha Samuels was third for agricultural science.

“Dr Ankle would say: Words of affirmation!” acting principal Cheryl Shippey chanted to the graduating Class of 2016 at a ceremony held last week at the Open Bible Church in Twickenham Park, Spanish Town.

In response the students declared: “I am created for excellence!”

Guest speaker at the graduation, Earl Jarrett, general manager of Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS), noted that under the leadership of principal Dr O’Neil Ankle and his vice-principals, Jonathan Grant had been transformed.

“The written history of Jonathan Grant will speak about a school which recognised the reality was that many persons perceived it as being a ‘failed institution’ and so it had to change,” Jarrett said.

He stated that by setting goals and executing plans to achieve those goals, Jonathan Grant had placed itself on a new path.

“Today, this change makes Jonathan Grant High School a centre of excellence,” he said highlighting how through transforming leadership at six non-traditional rural high schools, his own institution and the Victoria Mutual Building Society also witnessed a transformation in the administration and educational output, to craft new identities for the students and uplift the profile of the institutions.

“Jonathan Grant, through your school leadership, you have displayed all the attributes of a centre of excellence school,” Jarrett told graduates.

“This school has crafted a positive identity for itself which includes having its students properly groomed for school; thereby setting a standard which many other schools in St Catherine and the Kingston Metropolitan Area have adopted,” he said.

The JNBS general manager underscored that Jonathan Grant’s achievements dispelled the notion that, “Jamaicans who are poor are not good enough, not capable, not ambitious, or not worthy”.

“The Centres of Excellence model instils the sense of a positive identity, which proves the truth that you…the students are great people, born in the image and likeness of God, and imbued with great possibilities,” he emphasised.

“And what better way to affirm this than through your positive statement: I am created for excellence,” the JNBS boss concluded.