NESTLED in the heart of the often-volatile community of West Kingston, Denham Town High School is experiencing a major revolution, with the results of its students in external examinations improving rapidly while instances of misconduct have declined sharply.

The school recorded an 88 per cent pass rate in mathematics in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) this year, up from 11 per cent last year.

“We’re coming from a place where, last year, we got one out of nine students passing. I think it was like 11 per cent, and this year we are now at 15 out of 17 passing mathematics. So we are at 88 per cent this year. I think we are above the national average this year,” Joyce McLennon, examination coordinator and a mathematics teacher at Denham Town High told the Jamaica Observer during a recent interview.

McLennon said the students performed exceptionally well in the City & Guilds mathematics examination in Grade 10 and this was a catalyst for the grades seen in the CSEC examinations.

“They were really motivated when they got their results. There were a lot of distinctions at that level and that propelled them there. They bought into it,” added McLennon, who is also a product of a volatile community.

“I was born and bred in these parts. I’m on a mission. I chose to teach here…I tell the story over and over, I’m an Holy Childhood old girl, I got a job now in the inner parts of Denham Town and I accept the job there because I can identify with them. When a child says, ‘Last night, I couldn’t do the homework, I couldn’t sleep because of the gunshots.’ It happened to me. I was under my bed when the shots were firing and I had to do well,” she said.

According to McLennon, she also struggled with mathematics as a student in high school before eventually pursuing the subject at university and earning first-class honours.

Joyce McLennon, examination coordinator and a mathematics teacher at Denham Town High, sharing the secrets of the school’s improvement in external examinations. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

“It doesn’t matter where the child is now, I know that they can reach the heights. It’s possible. I’m a living testimony, and this is why I continue to work with them. It’s possible and so, every day, I tell them, I believe in you. I never stop believing until they believe in themselves and that’s what got the job done. One of the things that got the job done… so I’m feeling really proud,” added the examination coordinator.

The school’s overall pass rate at the CSEC level has improved from 48 per cent last year to 73 per cent this year, and McLennon was quick to point out, “We had one child who passed eight [subjects] in one sitting, including math and English, and we had a few others who passed seven and six.”

But the journey to these results was far from easy. Principal of the school Yvette Richards-Thompson told the Observer that the improvement was the result of deliberate strategic planning, including providing extra classes and identifying and addressing students’ learning gaps.

“Math is usually a challenge for students, but what we did, we sat down last year, developed a strategic plan for the improvement of math. We ensured that we assigned the right teachers. That we created a programme where the students received extra support outside of the school hours and just to ensure that whatever support they needed was provided,” said Richards-Thompson.

She underscored that the success of students in examinations goes beyond traditional preparation because many of them enter Denham Town High significantly below the expected academic level.

According to Richards-Thompson, some students arrive at the secondary school with reading skills below the pre-primary or primary level, with teachers having to work with them to build their literacy and numeracy skills from grade 7.

“If the traditional high schools are getting students reading, they are getting the cream of the crop. They are getting those performing above average in PEP [Primary Exit Profile], and we are getting those who are performing at the lowest level. Within five years they do the same exams. So what is required for our children to actually sit and pass that exam in the five years is a lot more effort on our part just to get them to pass those exams,” argued Richards-Thompson.

The entrance to Denham Town High School on North Street in West Kingston. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

She said the teachers went above and beyond to help students prepare for external examinations.

“The students, they didn’t get any holiday, they didn’t get any break. Every holiday we had classes. We had Christmas classes. We had Easter classes. We had classes after school. We had classes whenever school was out, and the beauty about it is that it took a whole team of persons just to prepare for exams. The teachers who did not even teach the specific subjects also assisted in preparation of students for the exams,” the principal said.

Richards-Thompson also commended the school’s board of management and the Kingston Western Member of Parliament for providing support to the institution.

“The Member of Parliament Desmond McKenzie, I can tell you, he goes to war for our school, and when it comes to support, he is always present. The board of management approved us implementing a programme that saw us getting extra support from additional teachers just to ensure the students got one-on-one tutoring,” said Richards-Thompson.

She pointed out that the school sees itself as different from a traditional high school, deliberately catering to students who may have been left behind by the PEP system.

“We are not a traditional high school. We have no intention of being that. I think there has to be a school that is going to cater to those students who do not meet the criteria of what is deemed to be the criteria of excelling in PEP, because there will be some students who are left behind. So rather than complaining, we have equipped ourselves to deal with that,” she added.

Richards-Thompson pointed out that the school adapts its curriculum and approach according to students’ needs.

Boys at play at Denham Town High School on Wednesday (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

“We are moving in the right direction. I’m proud of the fact that we choose not to remain where we were and, in reality, I think, over the years, we have been branded as a school that uses a lot of violence and there are a lot of issues. But in reality, we have changed quite a bit, and I’m proud of that,” Richards-Thompson said.

With the institution located in one of the most volatile Corporate Area communities, the principal emphasised the importance of providing psychosocial support to students who face challenges at home and in their communities, including grief and abuse.

“As much as they are seen as children from volatile communities, they are still just children, and so if they are not given the opportunity to deal with the challenges that they have — they are children who are grieving, they are children who are experiencing abuse, they are children who they just need to find themselves.

“So our guidance counsellor, dean of discipline, our teachers, our training psychosocial support, and we are one of the few schools that, in addition to the HFLE [health and family life education] sessions and guidance, we have timetabled psychosocial sessions,” Richards-Thompson said as she called for more financial support for the institution.

“We are not one of those schools that have a huge past student association that will donate some millions. I wish we were, but we aren’t, and so the support programmes that are needed sometimes are also affected because if we are spending quite a bit of funds on the curriculum and instruction, then there are some things that we now have to evaluate to see how much and how involved our students are,” Richards-Thompson said.

She told the Observer that the school is seeking to expand its performing arts programme, which will require funding.

“We are willing to make the sacrifices where necessary and we are willing to work with whichever organisations are willing to come on board just to ensure that we’re able to give our students exposure. For many of them, the school is their safe place, and I’m proud of that. I intend to create a school that our students feel loved, they feel valued, and if there’s nowhere else in the entire country that they feel that they can run to if they’re in trouble, they must be able to run to one of us. So ensuring that our students are able to get that level of support is very important to me,” declared Richards-Thompson.