Knox College sixth-formers excel

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

THREE YEARS after reinstating its sixth-form programme, Knox College is reporting significant academic achievements by students, as well as improved performances in sporting activities. Though well received, those telling changes have caught teachers off guard, principal, the Reverend Dr Gordon Cowans, admitted to The Gleaner.

"We ourselves didn't remember just how much people grow between the ages of 15-plus to 17-plus and 18. Now that our student councillors and prefects are 17 and 18 years old, we're just finding a quality of leadership from the student body in our school that really is lifting many, many areas.

"The academic prowess of the school has really just lifted by a quantum leap ... as well as the representational activity in all the co-curricular activities," he explained.

A year ago, after the second year of sixth form, having written the best Caribbean Studies paper in Jamaica, the head girl went on to win an open scholarship to the University of the West Indies (UWI). The overall second- and third-place finishers were also from her batch. Following on these achievements, last year, a Knox College graduate matriculated directly into medical school at the UWI on the strength of his CAPE results.

These individual achievements have redounded to the benefit of the entire campus, according to Cowans.

"The reinstituted sixth form at Knox College has actually transformed the life of a school that was already, even if we say so ourselves, doing well, but it's begun to do much better in a range of areas, one of which is the quality of student leadership, something that is blowing the minds of the senior staff."

Trying circumstances

These gains, he admits, were accomplished under trying circumstances.

"The transition has been difficult, and some of my colleagues have graciously asked me to think about a way of writing down this experience because not many schools actually go through a transition like this. And it is felt that it is also important to learn what levels of engagement there have to be in the transitional phases to just stay upfront," he explained.

Owned and operated by the United Church in Jamaica and The Cayman Islands, the decision to resurrect the programme was promoted by the church.

The principal said Knox College was still awaiting the Ministry of Education's approval after the completion of a mandatory three years as a pilot project. He pointed out that the sixth-form reinstatement was implemented using the institution's resources, and he commended the staff for its dedicated work.

Now in its 65th year, the school has a lot to celebrate, activities having started this academic year and slated to run to August 1, 2012. Knox College, the high school, sits on 15 acres, sharing as it does campus space of more than 100 acres with Knox Community College, Knox Junior School, and, of course, an early childhood centre.

It was this abundance of land space and buildings which allowed the high school to effectively make the sixth-form transition without having to erect new buildings. The school, however, now recognises the importance of literally building on that success. While the more than $28-million price tag for such an undertaking is a hefty one, Cowans is clear on the importance of such an enterprise: "We are clear that there is the need for the building of a sixth-form block, which will be designed to reflect the future, or the issues, in relation to high-tech developments in one area or another, it will be environmentally friendly, and so forth," he disclosed.

The plan is for construction start-up to coincide with the end of the celebration period, during which time fund-raising activities will be in full gear. Activities include a cultural tour by the school's young musicians, which will see a subset of its fledgling orchestra performing in Great Britain and another in Toronto, Canada, next year April.