Members of the Junior Culture Club perform a folk medley during the ceremony for the renaming of the Gordon Town All-Age School to the Louise Bennett-Coverley All-Age yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Correction & Clarification
In this story, it was stated that Goldie Falconer-Simpson donated a printer to the Louise Bennett-Coverley All-Age School. She did not donate the printer, but presented it to the school on behalf of the Barita Education Foundation.
On Thursday morning at the Gordon Town All-Age School, nestled at the foot of the Blue Mountains, students and staff dressed in traditional garb gathered outside for the renaming ceremony.
The school (officially renamed on September 1, 2008) is now known as the Louise Bennett-Coverley All-Age School.
The grounds were decorated with balloons, ribbons, a painting and a handmade model of Miss Lou, with the children filling the balconies and the patio to watch.
The ceremony itself was impressive and appropriately deferent to the icon, with a student named Bianca Shakespeare giving a performance of Miss Lou's work 'Roas Turkey', and the junior culture club enthusiastically singing a folk medley.
Miss lou often visited
The school is being named after the cultural icon, more commonly known as Miss Lou, who visited Gordon Town and the all-age school often, inspiring the teachers and students.
As Roderick Rainford, an alumnus of the school and a speaker at the ceremony, explains, "She was a person who believed in and personified hard work, excellence, persistence and patriotism." Ruel Reid, an adviser to the minister of education, added, "The name Louise Bennett-Coverley is certainly a name we are proud to be associated with."
The school's history speaks of development despite the odds. At one stage it had been destroyed by a hurricane, at another it needed to be relocated, and yet in another the need for financial support became so great, it faced closure.
Surprised by benevolence
The institution, founded more than 70 years ago, now boasts a new building, completed in September 2007, a student body of 695 and a staff of 21, including a guidance counsellor and physical education specialist.
At the function, the school was surprised by the benevolence of its supporters. A printer came from Mrs Goldie Falconer-Simpson, a lignum vitae tree from the Optimist Club and $50,000 from Lorna Golding, wife of Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
Mr E.G. Barrett, chairman of the school's board, expressed pride at the work that had been done by the parents and staff, and the encouragement given to the students. He said the school was a model for others to follow and reiterated its importance.
"Without education and places like this school, this country is going nowhere at all."