MALVERN, St Elizabeth — Just like ‘brother’ boarding school, Munro College, four miles away, all girls’ Hampton School plans to reopen tomorrow for face-to-face classes with drastically reduced student numbers.

Principal of Hampton Mahvell Charlton-Brown told the Jamaica Observer that in line with efforts to maintain COVID-19-induced social distancing protocols, only senior students will resume face-to-face classes with junior students being engaged online.

Also, boarding facilities will only be available for seniors, the principal said.

“We are catering to our senior students, grades 10, 11, 12 and 13, for face-to-face classes commencing Monday [tomorrow]. The junior school students, grades 7, 8 and 9, will remain engaged in online teaching and learning,” she said.

Charlton-Brown said just under half of the student population, including those who travel daily to and from school, will be facilitated for face-to-face learning. The remainder will be expected to access classes online.

Under the new arrangements, only a third of the usual number of boarders is being accommodated.

“We are providing boarding accommodation for those students [senior students]. We usually have just under 300 girls boarding, but by virtue of our focus on senior students, we are expecting about 100 senior students in boarding,” Charlton-Brown told the Sunday Observer.

With 1,234 students and 74 teachers, Hampton has had relatively few parents expressing uncertainty for their daughters to resume face-to-face classes, she said.

“We find that the majority of our parents who would normally have students in boarding by virtue of where they live, the distances they live from school, those parents are still interested in boarding. A handful of parents have indicated some uncertainty, and some have decided not to have their daughters engaged in face-to-face learning,” Charlton-Brown said.

She said that online students “will continue to be engaged with their teachers via the Google Classroom”.

The principal said the cost of boarding is proving prohibitive for some parents.

“…There are a number of them that have expressed that they are having challenges meeting the expenses associated with boarding,” Charlton-Brown said.

Hampton School and Munro College owe their origins to the Munro and Dickenson Trust – formed from an estate dating back to the 1700s.

Principal of Munro College Mark Smith told the Sunday Observer last week that the institution would reopen tomorrow with some boarders being accommodated but also with “a very strict regime in terms of managing students”.

Smith said the all-boys’ school had looked at integrating technology into teaching and learning, in a way that has not been previously widespread in Jamaica.