Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter
THE MINISTRY of Education and Youth says it will begin finding school spaces for more than 200 students at Priory School, St. Andrew, in the 2006-07 academic year, following a decision to close the school by 2008.
"During 2006-2007, (the Ministry of Education's) Region One, in consultation with teachers and parents, will be making decisions regarding placement of students," Adelle Brown, chief education officer in the Education Ministry told The Gleaner yesterday.
Priory High was founded in 1944 as 'The Priory House'. The institution had accrued close to $11 million in debt when Government gave it grant-aided status in 1997. At the time, Priory was suffering a fall-off in enrolment and Govern-ment was seeking additional space for Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) students.
The Gleaner understands that the trust had requested responsibility of the school from the Education Ministry last year, noting that it wanted the institution to revert to its private status. Come September, a dual school will be operating at the institution until the Education Ministry finds spaces for the public school students.
Mrs. Brown said her ministry would only have to find spaces for students from grades eight to 10 because the ministry did not place any GSAT students at the school this year and the grade 11 students graduated recently.
Asked if the fact that the ministry did not place students in Priory this year resulted in the shortage of school spaces, Mrs. Brown said the impact on school spaces was not severe because there were fewer than 100 grade seven students at the school.
Rose-marie Wilson, secretary of the parent-teacher association (PTA), told The Gleaner yesterday that the transfer of the students is likely to have a severe impact on them.
