Hydel takes aim at academic, sporting balance

AS IT seeks balance between academic and extracurricular activities, including sport, the Hydel High School is undergoing a transition from private to grant-aided that is central to fulfilling its objectives.

The move has created access to much-needed financing for the operations of its educational institution, thus creating greater stability to fortify its launch pad towards a twin model of success.

In a relatively short time, the Hydel High School has carved open a path of excellence in sports.

Hydel High’s girls won the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships title in 2023 and, in the same year, finished runners-up in the Corporate Area Manning Cup for a second time. Those are two of the biggest high school sporting competitions.

Also, they have won the ISSA/KFC high school basketball competition on multiple occasions; and at the preparatory level, they are multiple champions in the netball and track and field competitions.

In short order too, the Ferry-based institution is looking to replicate its prowess on the field of play in the classrooms, with an initial target of placing among the top 25 schools on the national academic list.

To achieve that goal, Chairman of the Hydel High School, Ryan Foster, highlighted enrolment and infrastructural challenges faced by the institution coming out of COVID-19 in 2022, and noted that it necessitated “transitioning to a more professionally run institution”.

That professionalism came with the implementation of a board of governors, and support from the Ministry of Education.

“As a board, we recognised that maintaining a private status would not sustain the school given the inability of many of the students to pay those fees at the time. I believe that was an important move … because it has now stabilised the school in terms of getting the necessary teachers in place because we’re first and foremost an educational institution, which requires proper infrastructure and human resources to run an effective school,” said Foster.

“That was an important decision to get grant aid,” he said, adding that it now means children doing PEP examinations are free to mark Hydel High as a preference.

The other phase identified by the board, Foster said, was “the recruitment of a principal to start rebuilding the Hydel High School”.

At the time, they never had a principal and Dr Walton Small, who held a similar position at one of the nation’s top, and most rounded high schools, Wolmer’s Boys, was brought on board.

“Moving away from a private to a public model is a culture shift, but I think once we find that middle ground between the past and where we want to go, this is a perfect opportunity for all stakeholders, the existing administrators and board, as well as the Government, the Ministry of Education, to use this institution as a role model institution within the St Catherine region to be a top educational institution that offers education and extracurricular activities, not just sport, to our students,” Foster said.

“Coming out of a private institution there are a lot of financial issues and liabilities and hurdles that we need to overcome. And we continue to overcome them. We’d have inherited quite a bit of financial issues that we’re now navigating along with the Ministry of Education to get the institution where we want it to go.

“The space is there but all stakeholders will have to be on board. I think we’re on the right path,” said Foster, himself a Wolmer’s Boys’ past student.