Evorine Henry-Tracey: Dedicated to Brimmer Vale High School

Orantes Moore, Gleaner Writer

Evorine Henry-Tracey has been a teacher for almost three decades and is currently the principal of Brimmer Vale High School, located just outside of St Mary's capital, Port Maria.

Although the school has the reputation of being a 'struggling' institution, the principal takes solace in the fact that a recent survey, conducted by Bill Johnson in association with The Gleaner, hailed the school for last year's CSEC math results.

She told Rural Xpress: "We got an 'A' for the work we did with the students in the years leading up to their CSEC exams. When we got those students, they averaged about 28 per cent, but we were able to move some of them to passing math at the CSEC level.

"That made us feel very good and is hugely motivating. I did an interview on the radio and some of the parents have called to say they heard it. It was good for the students, too, because it got them excited and gave them a sense of worth.

"Although the school has a bad reputation, we do have pockets of success. For example, last year, our top student got 11 CSEC subjects in one sitting, and the majority of them were top grades; and the next most successful student got seven subjects."

Despite being the only underpopulated school in the parish, Brimmer Vale High School has one of the poorest attendance records. However, Henry-Tracey insists these issues are largely out of her control.

She said: "The Ministry of Education sends us students from as far as Portland and Stony Hill, and so many of them don't actually turn up because the distance is too far.

"Parents would have no interest in sending their children so far, and so we have a totally new population from what we have been sent. Brimmer Vale is not really a school of choice and, therefore, we have to do a lot of work. I think I've done something like 60 or 70 transfers over the past year."

Marked difference

Henry-Tracey joined Brimmer Vale High School in April 2013 after 27 years working at another of the parish's schools, Tacky High. She said there is a marked difference between the two institutions.

"At Tacky, we did a lot of work to help the school transition from being an institution without a name to one that is well recognised in the community, region, and throughout Jamaica largely because of our participation in cricket and athletics.

"On the other hand, Brimmer Vale has been struggling for years, and each year, the reputation seems to get worse.

"I have a population of 690 students here, and more than 500 of them are on the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education, which means we have a lot of issues to deal with. I would say that's the main difference between the schools.

"Nevertheless, Brimmer Vale has a whole lot of potential. I have big dreams for this school and hope that with corporate Jamaica and the cooperation of the community and parents, we can actually make a difference here."

In addition to the standard numeracy and literacy programmes most schools have been implementing to improve grades, Henry-Tracey has another secret weapon that she hopes will help steer her students in the right direction: music.

She explained: "We are exploring how we can use music to help them to learn because so many of them are interested in the subject.

"We'll be taking up this project from September and have a very vibrant music teacher who is also a reading teacher. I'm trying to get her to see how she can bring the two subjects together.

"The talent is certainly here. There is hardly a function in Port Maria that my students are not invited to. They do exceptionally well in that area. So it is just for us to put some structure to all of this and help the students maximise their potential."

rural@gleanerjm.com