Veteran St. Ann Educator to Receive PM’S Award

Prominent St. Ann educator and Principal of the Hillcove High Achievers Preparatory School in Brown’s Town, Adita Sherwood, is among this year’s recipients of the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Education.

The honour comes one year after she received the coveted Governor General’s Achievement Award for her contribution to education.

A total of 79 educators at various levels will be honoured at the biennial awards ceremony, scheduled for May 28 at Jamaica House in Kingston.

“I feel that my 53 years of service to education and my country has paid off, and I feel honoured,” Mrs. Sherwood tells JIS News.

The 73-year-old shares that her service in education began as a pre-trained teacher in 1972 at the Muirhouse All-Age School in St. Ann, where she taught home economics.

In 1975, after obtaining formal training through the then In-Service Teacher Education Trust (ISTET) programme for pre-trained teachers, Mrs. Sherwood moved on to the Brown’s Town Infant School in the parish.

She worked at that institution for 26 years, rising to the rank of Acting Principal.

As she taught and moulded young lives, Mrs. Sherwood invested in her own education, obtaining a Diploma, a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education, a Master’s in Education and a certificate in Supervision and Management.

In 1998, she was appointed Principal of the Linton Park Primary School, which at the time was underperforming.

In the two years that Mrs. Sherwood spent at the institution, she successfully improved the students’ performance through the implementation of unique educational initiatives.

Her successful leadership at the institution did not go unnoticed and she was offered the position of Education Officer for the parish of St. Mary in 2000.

“The schools there (in St. Mary) were the lowest-performing in the education region, which at that time was St. Ann, St. Mary and Trelawny. Under my leadership, the schools over there did well and surpassed the ones in Trelawny,” the Educator recalls.

Having fulfilled her mandate in St. Mary, Mrs. Sherwood returned to St. Ann, where she picked up her role as Education Officer.

She continued her transformative initiatives in her home parish, successfully guiding schools such as the Lime Tree Garden All-Age from low performance to the region’s top institution in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

During her time as an Education Officer, Mrs. Sherwood also spearheaded a major partnership dubbed ‘Project Read’ with the Breezes Hotel in Runaway Bay.

The initiative facilitated workshops, which targeted literacy deficits in the education region.

Through the workshops, between 2004 and 2009, Mrs. Sherwood and her team equipped educators with novel techniques and methodologies, which fostered a conducive learning environment for students.

Project Read flourished under the educator’s guidance and grew into a platform that allowed Canadian and American educators to share cutting-edge pedagogical strategies with local teachers.

The initiative evolved into the National Summer Reading Project.

Mrs. Sherwood established the Hillcove High Achievers Preparatory School in 2006 with a modest cohort of 47 students spanning kindergarten to grade three, but quickly doubled in size and expanded to grade six.

Mrs. Sherwood notes that while running a school has not been without challenges, the institution is doing well.

“In 2023, we were awarded for the top individual PEP (Primary Exit Profile) Examination results in the region and last year (2024), we did well again, and we are hoping that we will do well again this year,” she shares with JIS News.

Beyond the realm of academia, Mrs. Sherwood’s philanthropic deeds have earned her the respect of her community.

Her selfless acts of kindness range from providing accommodation and financial assistance to persons in need to assisting young aspiring educators with obtaining tertiary-level qualifications.

“I take teachers here (at Hillcove Preparatory) with entry-level qualifications, persons who cannot afford college. I take them, get them into the college, pay their school fees and give them a stipend at the end of the month,” the educator shares.

“So, they spend four years here and when they leave with a degree in education they can go into the government schools,” she tells JIS News.

Mrs. Sherwood is instrumental in guiding the career of teachers at institutions where she served as Education Officer.

Acting Principal of the Watt Town Primary and Infant School, Allicia Wishart, recalls that the senior educator played an instrumental role in motivating her to obtain her bachelor’s degree.

“Back when I was a teacher in the [Watt Town] Basic School, Mrs. Sherwood never missed a chance to push me towards greatness,” Ms. Wishart says.

She recalls that on every occasion when she encountered the former Education Officer, she would challenge her to get her first degree in education.

“Those words felt like thorns in my skin but they were exactly what I needed. I took her challenge to heart, enrolled in college, earned my bachelor’s degree, and today I serve as the acting principal of a primary and infant school,” Ms. Wishart says proudly.

She emphasises that Mrs. Sherwood saw her potential even when she could not see it herself, noting that the educator’s “tough love” changed the course of her life.

Ms. Wishart’s story is just one example of how Mrs. Sherwood has left an indelible mark on her community.

It is also the embodiment of her strong belief that education is the greatest tool for empowering people.

“I really love education. One of my philosophies is that education is the tool that can move one from one status quo to the other. I also feel that it is the tool by which the poor can reach their truest potential,” Mrs. Sherwood emphasises.

The veteran educator, who officially retired as an Education Officer in 2012, adds that it is her passion for opening doors for others and her faith as an Adventist that has kept her going for five decades.