SHORTWOOD Practising Infant, Primary and Junior High has big plans.

“The vision for the next few years is that we want to have a gymnasium, an auditorium and also achieve 100 per cent literacy and 98 per cent numeracy, as we are currently at 84 per cent literacy and 71 per cent numeracy,” Principal Stellavit Ingram told the

Jamaica Observer Saturday night at a banquet and awards ceremony marking the school’s 130th anniversary at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston, St Andrew.

According to Ingram, the school, which also caters to special needs children, has a rich legacy and is a laboratory for student teachers from the Shortwood Teachers’ College.

“We also want to improve on our agriculture efforts to become more self-sufficient and generate more income,” he outlined. “We [currently] have cash crops and broiler chickens, so we do those for the canteen on a low scale. We probably have about 200 to 400 chickens on a regular basis, but we want to be able to supply not only our canteen, but other schools as well.”

At the same time, the principal said there are plans to erect an administrative block, build more modern sanitary facilities, as well as improve Internet coverage to better serve the 54 teachers and more than 1,000 students at the educational institution.

However, the principal said the school’s main goal is to become the institution of choice in the Ministry of Education’s Region One by 2020, then the school of choice in the island by 2025.

Current and past staff members also share the school’s vision.

“I’ve been in the [teaching] profession for 42 years, but teaching at Shortwood for 28 of those years,” Patricia Williamson, a recent retiree, told the

Observer. “I do hope that they will grow from strength to strength and they will excel in all their endeavours, and that they achieve all the goals they have for the school.”

Williamson was among four retired teachers who received special awards for serving the school for at least 20 years at Saturday night’s banquet, which was held under the theme: ‘Bridging the Gap: Making Connections, Building a Better Society’.

Williamson’s former colleague and fellow awardee, Joyce Williams, also expressed her appreciation to the school for the recognition.

Though she has been a teacher for 39 years, 21 of which were spent at Shortwood Practising Infant, Primary and Junior High, Williams said she is not ready to leave the profession. Currently on pre-retirement leave, Williams told the

Observer that she might accept a position at another school because she cannot imagine herself doing anything but teaching.

She maintained, however, that Shortwood Practising will always hold a special place in her heart and that she wishes for them another 130 years of excellence.

Meanwhile, master of ceremonies for Saturday’s function and former Principal Evelyn Gyles said that the school has been a beacon in the country and has accomplished much to be proud of.

According to Gyles, the school is well loved by its past students, which is a testament, she said, solidified by the fact that 15 former students from the New York alumni chapter flew to Jamaica to attend Saturday’s banquet.

“So, of course, there have been struggles… we don’t have the benefit of enjoying the luxuries and the hype that the high schools are able to get from their past students, but what ours are able to do for us, we are very proud,” she said.

“Frankly speaking, I want to see our school being given the resources and opportunities to mould the students that Jamaica needs and so, more emphasis needs to be placed on preparing those primary [level] students, so that when they go on to secondary school they can absorb that which is offered to them,” Gyles said.