Brown... trying to change Belair High School's élitist image. - RUDOLPH BROWN photoClaude Mills, Staff Reporter
WHEN YOU hear the word 'Belair', it often conjures up images of rich 'preppie' teenagers and, of course, a hit TV show featuring former rapper Will Smith.
However, in the Jamaican school system, Belair is first associated with scholastic excellence and secondly, to some extent, elitism.
"We're very conscious of the elitist label, and I thought that was negative because I believe that a school should represent the community, so we have tried to change that image, and now, the students come from a wide cross-section of society," principal Trevor Brown said.
The tightly-knit student community consists of students who have been at the institution since kindergarten, and which has now welcomed a female student who is both hearing-impaired and mute, but who maintains an excellent "80-plus average."
"We have an interpreter who comes in to help her, and that has gone so well that many students have now learned sign language, and in the absence of an interpreter, the students help her out with her lessons," Mr. Brown said.
The Belair High School was started in 1968 by the Alpart Bauxite Company to educate the children of its expatriate managers. Today, it is a beacon for students from all socio-economic backgrounds who are in search of excellence.
Mr. Brown, who has been principal since 1999, believes that if Belair were accepted within the pantheon of ranked public high schools, it would place a heady third based on its stellar CXC/GCE and CAPE results.
"We simply looked at Dr. (Ralph) Thompson's published results, and we plugged our percentage of grades into that, and we came out with a percentage that would place us behind Immaculate and Campion in terms of best academic results," he said.
During last year's CXC examinations, Belair gained an 83 per cent pass mark in biology, 88 per cent in Caribbean history, 88 per cent in English A, 91 per cent in information technology, 82 per cent in mathematics, 89 per cent in technical drawing, and 100 per cent passes in a diverse range of subjects such as chemistry, French, integrated science, principles of business, Spanish and social studies.
COURSES FOR TEACHERS
Belair is proud to be associated with one of its graduates, David Panton who was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1993.
A major strength of Belair has been its commitment to the professional growth of the teachers. Teachers have pursued courses leading to Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes from Western Carolina University. At present, parents enjoy the ability to go on to the school's Web site, and check out their child's homework assignments for each subject.
"Each parent has a password, and it gives them the ability to keep track of their child's progress. Next year, we will be upgrading the site to allow parents to see the marks of their children, if they have handed in their projects, and keep a running tally of what assignments are still outstanding," Mr. Brown said.
Still, despite the academic successes and its cadre of highly trained teachers, Belair High faces difficult financial challenges.
School fees run to $40,000 each term or $120,000 each year for each student at Belair. Eighty per cent of fees collected goes towards the payment of teachers. The remaining 20 per cent is for the light, water and general maintenance. That translates into a tight budget.
"The school is now in a deficit position because of the number of students we help and offer scholarships and bursaries to for each academic year," Mr. Brown said.
The school, through a series of innovative fund-raising efforts such as the Ernie Smith dinner dance on May 29th, earn additional funds for the school to fulfil its obligations.
This fact makes it hard for the school administrators to understand why the Ministry of Education has spurned its overtures to send children who otherwise would not be able to afford to attend this prestigious school the opportunity to become students at a subsidised cost.
"We have 498 students, but we can accommodate as many as 720 spaces. The Government came and started negotiations, but we couldn't agree on the size of the subsidy they would give... and the negotiations just petered out. Another problem is that we even asked that students taking GSAT could have the option to put down Belair as a school of first choice, but over the last five years, they haven't sent us anybody," Mr. Brown said.
Class sizes at the private institution range from seven to 18 students, although the target set by the school board is 25.
The Belair group of schools recently gained the position of a tax-exempt institution as a new strategy for survival. The school was recently approved for tax exempt status by the Ministry of Finance under Section 12(h) of the Income Tax Act.
"We got charitable donation status, which means that businesses are encouraged to help us because of the possibility of getting a tax write-off at the end of the year. Apart from that, we have lobbied with the Independent Schools Association to get tax exemptions on books and other school material," Mr. Brown said.
The students of the school are also heavily involved in social outreach programmes.
The high school students have adopted the Hanbury Children's Home as a special project, and every year the students' council raises funds to assist the children. This is done through walk-a-thons, bake sales, and concerts, which are usually well-supported.
Each December the students present gifts of cash, clothing and other needed items to the children of Hanbury Home. Members of the Red Cross Youth-Link visit the Curphey Home for ex-servicemen and the Hanbury Home. They take gifts and spend time sharing and talking with the men and the children.
