Tarrant High Equipping Students with in-Demand Skills

Tarrant High School in St. Andrew is investing in technical and vocational education and training to better prepare students for advanced studies or to enter the workforce after they leave school.

All pupils are certified with levels one and two skills, before completing their secondary studies, qualifying them to advance to level three at training institutes such as the HEART/NSTA Trust.

Tarrant High currently offers skills and training in motorcycle repair, cosmetology, food and beverage management, mixology, floral design, robotics, plumbing, welding, electrical engineering, among several other fields.

The school has also partnered with the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) to offer logistics training in chain management and other areas.

Speaking to JIS News at a career day event at the institution’s Molynes Road campus, Guidance Counsellor, Roshelle Jackson, says that the programme offerings are designed as catalysts for change.

“Pretty much what we intend to do is create an atmosphere where our students have an opportunity to explore options that are available to them in numerous industries,” she notes.

Ms. Jackson says the recent announcement by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, for the removal of all tuition and administrative fees from HEART Trust programmes up to level four will further advance the school’s skills-training drive.

She welcomes the move by the Government, which she notes, will not only benefit many underserved youth but also students at Tarrant High, which is already in partnership with HEART for the training of the school’s highly skills-based cohort.

“We focus on a number of vocational areas, and I feel completely encouraged to know that my students, a number of whom are from challenging economic circumstances, will have an opportunity to further pursue what they have started here,” Ms. Jackson says.

She is encouraging the students of Tarrant High and other young people across Jamaica to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the Government and “run in!”

The programme offerings at Tarrant High, which also include plans to implement a driving course, is part of a vision by Principal, Paul Hall, to create an institution built on excellence.

“I want to create a school of choice, a school of excellence; one in which the students excel,” Mr. Hall tells JIS News.

He notes that the move to implement the driving programme follows the launch of the recent road-code test in secondary schools by the Ministry of Transport and Mining.

It is also in response to “the current state of affairs on our local roads,” he says, adding that the initiative will “aid students to be well-rounded in all aspects, wherever they go in life”.

There are also plans to implement a tree-planting initiative to assist the agricultural programme and generate revenue for the school.

In addition to the vocational and skills areas, focus is also being placed on improving student achievement in the academics.

Mr. Hall says he has set a goal for all students to achieve a minimum of five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) passes to include maths and English.

“Right now, we are about 30 per cent of students getting five or more, but we want full 100, and so we have embarked on several programmes in order to get the students where we need them to be,” Mr. Hall says.

He notes that while the two years away from the physical classroom setting, due to COVID-19, had hampered progress in this area, the institution is making strides in achieving this goal based on the foundation laid.

These include incorporating the use of technology in learning, with all grades from seven to nine equipped with smart televisions, and there are plans to equip grades 10 to 13 with interactive smart boards. WhatsApp groups are also utilsed to boost learning.

The school has also embarked on a smart lab project to improve reading and comprehension skills.

“It (reading lab) is not yet complete, but we’re almost there… . We are putting that in place to include a reading app. We’re putting some computers in there and we want to put in a reading corner,” Mr. Hall informs.

The Tarrant Principal tells JIS News that there is “so much more that the school is doing and plans to do” in fulfilling its vision of becoming an institution of choice.