BROWN’S TOWN, St Ann. Nearly a year after Hurricane Melissa tore through St Hilda’s Diocesan High School, the all-girls school has had to delay the full reopening of its boarding house for the new academic year, with damage put at around 40 million dollars.
Ahead of Monday’s return to classes, the school told families that boarders would stay at home until further notice. Principal Heather Reid-Johnson said only 40 newly admitted students were in residence on Monday, at a school that normally boards about 200.
The storm damaged the dormitory and several classrooms, and repairs are still under way. A whole section of the main building cannot be used. The principal could not say when the boarding facility would reopen in full.
The disruption has not dented results. Mrs Reid-Johnson said that despite losing the use of classrooms, the girls performed exceptionally well in this year’s regional examinations. Of about 23 subjects sat at the advanced level, 20 recorded a full pass rate, and most subjects at the secondary certificate level came in at 90 percent or better, several at 100.
After the hurricane the school extended its day to 4 p.m. to recover lost teaching time. The principal said the extra hours paid off, and credited the students for putting in the work through a rough year.
LRTVS News Desk
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