Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter
A dual secondary school will be operating on the grounds of Priory High School in St. Andrew next month, if Liberty Preparatory School gets the quota of students it needs to run the institution.
Liberty Prep, which currently leases a section of Priory High, is to take over the school in September 2008 and run a private secondary institution - Liberty High School.
The Ministry of Education and Youth is to begin hunting spaces for incoming grades eight and nine students in the upcoming academic year. It is expected that the incoming grades 10 and 11 students would graduate before the school closes in 2008.
But "prior to taking over the school, we plan to launch a grade seven programme next September and we are looking at the possibility of a pilot class this year," said Suzanne Williams, principal of Liberty Prep.
Mrs. Williams said this would become possible if the school gets a quota of 20 students.
Grant-aided status
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 Government was seeking additional space for Grade Six Achievement Test students.
Several parties submitted proposals to the Priory Trust last year, indicating their interest in running the school. Liberty Preparatory won the tender to take over the institution. The education ministry did not submit a tender proposal.
"We are working towards developing a high school that will function as an alternative programme for parents who are looking at alternatives for their children," Mrs. Williams told The Gleaner recently.
Holistic programme
She noted that the school was looking at a holistic programme that seeks to develop students, groom them as leaders of society and approach education in a different way to which it is approached in traditional high schools.
"We are looking at a process approach, an approach to where children are taught to apply knowledge learnt. We don't want to develop purely on academics (because) we are of the opinion that the focus is too much on academics," she added.
The principal said the school intends to broaden students' experience by introducing performing arts, business studies, and community service, among other things.
Vivienne Stewart, principal of Priory High School told The Gleaner, that she was concerned about the operation of Liberty High School because there would be less land space for her students to use.
