It was two years since Middleton Primary School won the St. Thomas Spelling Bee, but they are back at the top in the parish.

The school is located between the more famous St. Thomas towns of Seaforth and Stony Gut. The school was started in 1895, but the original building was destroyed by a hurricane. The Anglican church, which is also on the premises, speaks to the school's Christian heritage.

"The discipline has been fairly good. You'll have some behaviour that is typical of children, but they're controllable," says prin-cipal Marcia Beckford. The institution provides the approx-imately 200 students with a myriad of clubs and societies to augment their primary education.

READING PROGRAMMES

One recent programme the school has implemented is a special one to train their boys.

"We use a small group of about 20 and we train them in different areas such as special reading programmes. We train them in deportment and other areas."

Since the inception of the programme, boys have met individuals such as the former Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke and former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. These individuals provide adult male figures who the boys can look to as role models. Boys first get a taste of it in Grade Four.

"The aim of it is to help them to be more responsible and, instead of leaving (school) and wanting to take the gun, they will want to be examples for the school and the society at large," the principal said.

TRIUMPHS

Her cabinet is full of trophies from the school's various triumphs and included among them is the Spelling Bee trophy for St. Thomas; a trophy they hold very dear to their hearts.

"We have never lost the cup for more than two years," Mrs. Beckford says.

Not that she can find a reason to explain the dominance: "I don't know. I don't think we do anything that special."

Aside from being the principal, Mrs. Beckford is also the Grade 6 teacher and the Spelling Bee coach. Rasheed Reittie, the Spelling Bee parish champion for St. Thomas.

"He's a student who wants to achieve at the highest level, and he always works hard," she says.

In the plans are the construction of a reading room and a computer room.