ST CATHERINE, Jamaica – Ascot High, principal Shannell Talbert says this academic year, keeping close track of students’ presence at school, is an aim of the staff at the institution.

When the Jamaica Observer arrived at Ascot High School on Monday, some students were in the process of updating records along with their parents.

“The importance of having the registration done and up to date is for us to be able to track students, particularly attendance and have parents give us the latest contact information,” Talbert said.

“If they’re absent for three days, we are going to start contacting [parents],” the principal stressed.

He maintained that during the course of the year, as attendance is tracked, it is important to have up-to-date contacts on file.

“A lot of things happen…children fall ill and we are calling their parents…parents have numbers from three, four years ago…sometimes it takes an entire day to get to them. We want to correct that, not just to track attendance but to contact parents in cases of emergency,” he explained.

Talbert says the school has also upgraded the environment that students will spend their time in this year.

“As you can see, we did a lot of work on the grounds, very lovely grounds to welcome our students, which is important,” he stated.

Ascot reopened fully on Monday along with most schools across the country for the 2025/2026 academic year.

-Dana Malcolm