Queen's Atlanta

For a school that was started in an old hotel building, the Queen's School, established in 1954, has grown to be one of the largest all-girls schools in the corporate area. Formally opened by His Grace the Archbishop of York, Dr Cyril Garbett, the second Prelate of the Church of England, Queens began with fifty-one students, four forms and two teachers, as a Diocesan high school for girls, and a co-ed preparatory school.

Principal Yvonne Keane-Dawes describes her school as traditional, noting that over the years Queen's has grown tremendously. This, however, is no deterrent to the girls striving to improve their performance, as the high school continues to excel academically, as well as in the performing arts.

Lower school students in the Queen's science lab diligently taking notes.

"We have 91% passes in CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations)," said Keane Dawes. Queens has also performed well in the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, with 15 of their students getting nine subjects, and 19 students passing eight subjects and 26 students passing seven subjects.

According to Keane-Dawes, Queen's places a strong emphasis on its students being well-rounded, excelling in areas such as the performing arts and sports.

Thirteen-year-old Christazia-Jewel Wilkin Thomas Barnes is one such example: she's released her own CD, and has had the release of her debut single, Chizzy's World. Christazia-Jewel also takes her academic performance seriously, as Dawes describes her as a child who never wants to miss a day of school. In addition to her singing she also has activities such as badminton, cheerleading, and the choir.

The Queen's School also caters to visually impaired students, who are allowed to sit their examinations in Braille. From left: Sharmalee Cardoza, TeenAge Writer Jamie Lloyd, Sheyenne Lester and Sashana Wauchope. (Photos: Brian Cummings)

The school's dance troupe, the Queen's Dance Society, has also received a number of awards, like best intermediate dance troupe, best intermediate jazz group and best choreographer in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) festival competition.

Other students who have done well include Latoya Greaves, who received a track scholarship to the Oklahoma Baptist University. She was known as the Pan American Junior Sprint hurdle champion, the World Youth hurdle champion and the 2003 World Youth silver medalist. The Queen's School has produced other successful athletes, as a few students have made the national netball team.

Another successful athlete is sixth former Samantha Henry, who has represented Jamaica in a number of track and field events furthermore amongst the 30 odd medals, Samantha has won, she has earned a silver medal at the World Youth Games in Quebec, Canada 2003.2004 a silver medal at the CAC games in Mexico.

A gold and silver medal at the CARIFTA games. Along with other medals obtained at the VMBS Boys and Girl Championships and Penn Relays, Samantha was class four double sprint champion for two years, and also in class three - 2nd to 5th form. She has also had several scholarship offers from abroad. The school has also produced has well known international athletes such as Olympian Grace Jackson

In addition, the school does not cater to only the traditional type of high school student, but also the visually impaired. These students are able to perform well academically, and at Queen's the four visually impaired students have not let their disability stop them and they are currently on par with the other students.

Tests are administered to the students in Braille, and other students volunteer to read their coursework materials to them.
"Students tend to get a second chance here," said acting vice principal Paul Ennis.

Queen's has also performed well in the Schools' Challenge Quiz competition, being the only all-girls school to reach the quarter-finals. They also began competing at chess for the first time last year, and won the National Secondary Schools' Chess Competition.

The school's Parent Teachers' Association is also actively involved, having played a large role in spearheading the school's Homework Programme, where students can access their homework online. The programme, which Keane-Dawes said is working beautifully, is most successful at the lower school level.

"We also have various intervention programmes to assist weak students in areas such as Math, English and Modern Languages," Keane Dawes added. The school has also received the Region One award for the best guidance programme, which was acknowledged by the Ministry of Education.