Increased student turnout at Marymount High School
Published:Wednesday | January 26, 2022 | 12:05 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
With the return to face-to-face classes at Marymount High School, the all-girls institution located in Cromwell and Highgate, St Mary, is seeing 90 per cent of its 870 students on roll turn out to classes in the fourth week since resumption.
This means a near 20 per cent uptick in the number of students the school has been able to reach, as several students were unable to access online classes for lack of devices and Internet connectivity.
“We are seeing quite a number of students who we had not been able to reach online. They have been turning out so our numbers have increased,” Renee Lawrence, acting principal, told The Gleaner on Monday.
“The students are coming out and they are obeying the protocols, we have little challenge there. Roughly 90 per cent of our students have turned out.
“All the grades are turning out so we stagger. We have three grades at a time and they have been coming out, they have been cooperating so we have things under control,” she added.
Despite the improved turnout, the school is still using the blended approach with teaching and learning, as online classes will continue with some teachers teaching from home and some from the school compound.
With the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations set to begin in three months, on April 12, Lawrence said students sitting exams are in exam mode and should be ready for the tests.
“Preparations have been going on. Our grade 11 students are out in their numbers and 12 and 13, we have been reaching them and they’re there every day. So we are in preparation mode,” said the acting principal.
In addition to the excellent academic performances by students over the years, the school has endeared itself to surrounding communities through the work of the Holiday Helpers group that has been treating senior citizens in these communities every Christmas for the past decade.