Kingston, Jamaica— A quiet but deliberate transformation is unfolding at St Andrew Preparatory School, where Principal Dr Carol Blanchard’s push for holistic development is reshaping not only the school’s academic culture, but also its sporting ambitions, character-building programmes and overall student experience.

That transformation received another significant boost recently when Express Canteen Services donated $500,000 towards the school’s track and field programme ahead of this year’s Prep Champs campaign.

While the financial contribution is expected to strengthen the school’s preparations for the championships, the donation also reflects growing recognition of the progress being made at the institution since Dr Blanchard assumed leadership in July 2023.

Under her stewardship, St Andrew Prep has expanded its footprint across academics, sports, robotics, chess, public speaking and student leadership initiatives, all while placing a strong emphasis on socialisation and character development.

“There are some strategic goals that we had on the table, including to heighten our participation or our visibility in the Junior Schools’ Challenge Quiz,” Dr Blanchard explained. “At the outset, the school was just going to round one, and now we went to the quarter-finals this year.”

The school has also introduced robotics as part of a broader push to equip students with future-ready skills. That initiative has already begun producing measurable academic benefits.

“Through robotics, we have been able to create a combo with chess and robotics. We have also seen the correlation with these students in the area of mathematics, in the curriculum, doing very well,” she said.

This year, the school entered 45 students in robotics-related competitions, with 42 earning strong results. Students also excelled in the Kangaroo Mathematics programme and the BIBRAS computational thinking competition, with some advancing to overseas stages of competition.

The institution’s success has extended beyond academics.

St Andrew Prep remains a dominant force in preparatory school chess and is pursuing a third consecutive championship, while also making strides in athletics, speech competitions and leadership programmes such as Children’s Parliament and Literary Voices, an impromptu speaking initiative designed to build confidence and communication skills.

For Dr Blanchard, the transformation has always been intentional.

“If you follow my track record from school to school, you’ve noticed that I’m big on socialisation and character development,” said the principal, who has enjoyed success at Mona and Sts Peter and Paul Prep Schools. “Everybody has content at their fingertips now, so what school has to do is information literacy to teach them how to use the content.”

The results, she believes, are becoming increasingly evident.

“I believe that we are on a very strong trajectory,” she said, revealing that the school was oversubscribed by more than 50 students for Grade One this year after turning away more than 30 applicants the previous year. “What we are focusing on now is to strengthen the quality of our programme.”

Dr Blanchard also underscored the critical importance of corporate partnerships in helping preparatory schools sustain and expand programmes designed to benefit students holistically.

“I want to say to you that Express Canteen, the board of governors, the teaching staff, the PTA, they have been extremely supportive,” she said, while also acknowledging support from parent-owned company AcuPower. “It’s very hard to navigate the financial aspect of the school given the fact that schools like ours are not funded by the government, and we are solely dependent on fees from the children.”

She explained that shifting economic realities have made partnerships with corporate Jamaica even more essential.

“In order to remain viable and to attract the best talent to deal with teaching and learning, we have to get in very good partnership with our parents and corporate sponsors like Express Canteen to help us to deal with budgetary line items,” she said. “Sports seem to be one of those attractive line items because a lot of parents want their children to be involved in sports.”

That vision strongly resonated with Ryan Foster of Express Canteen Services, who said the company’s support extends far beyond sponsorship.

“One of the things that I admire about the school and Dr Blanchard’s work in the school is how you are building a holistic environment for students to self-actualise, not just on the field of play, but also in the classroom,” Foster said.

He noted that the company’s philosophy – “Feed Your Dreams” – aligns naturally with the school’s developmental approach.

“This cheque of $500,000 is not just about the cash, it’s about how can we be a part of something, be a part of a dream, be a part of a process that will allow the student athletes to find fulfillment, not just this year, but continuously for life after school,” Foster said.

His wife and business partner, Simone Foster, said the company’s involvement at the school has always centred on empowerment.

“When we started at St Andrew Prep, we had our vision of transforming the school to empower the youth at the school as well as to support their sports programme,” she said.

For track coach Patrick Johnson, the sponsorship arrives at a critical moment as the school intensifies preparations for the championships after finishing fifth last year.

“We have a team that is doing so well in pre-development meets,” Johnson said. “The team that I have now is stronger when compared to last year.

“Basically, this year we’re working with everybody and trying to make sure everybody gets a chance to get adequate coaching.”

After finishing fifth at last year’s championships, Johnson believes the current group has the potential to improve significantly, though he remains cautiously optimistic.

“We’re just taking it one step at a time and then get the result. Anything can happen anywhere, anytime.”

Dr Blanchard, meanwhile, made it clear that the school’s ambitions continue to grow.

“Look out for us,” she said with a smile. “We might just be the champions this year.”