By Kingsley Emmanuel
PARENTS whose “school of choice” for their children was the Beanfield Comprehensive Secondary School were all in glee last Friday, when they registered their children with the school.
Earlier this year, they had a different feeling when at a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Education they were told that the Beanfield Comprehensive Secondary School will not be accepting additional students this year, due to inadequate space.
At that meeting, tempers flared from beginning to end as parents expressed anger and frustration about the decision.
Minister of Education Gale Rigobert subsequently apologized to the parents and reversed the decision.
The Beanfield Comprehensive Secondary School has enrolled 60 students from various districts in the south of the island. A number of these students have scored in the 90’s and high 80’s in this year’s Common Entrance Exams.
In interviews with several parents, they told this reporter the reason why the Beanfield Comprehensive Secondary School is their school of choice is because of its high level of discipline and its academic excellence, which has improved significantly.
The school has also done exceedingly well in national science fair competitions and quiz competitions – and reasonably well in sports.
“I am relieved, because we now have a wider choice…” Donavon Bicar, a parent, said.
He added that based on what he has heard, the Beanfield Comprehensive Secondary School is doing better than some of the more-established secondary schools on the island.
Peter Edgar, another parent said: “The school is a good school. I never heard anything negative about it.”
He said he was annoyed when officials of the Ministry of Education had asked them to change their options.
According to Selma Ferdinand, the initial decision by the ministry to disallow enrollment of new students with the school was a bad one, adding that she is now happy that the matter has been settled.
However, it is not clear whether the additional students will be housed at the Beanfield Comprehensive Secondary School or a nearby school, since the extension which the ministry had initially promised would have done to the school has not commenced.
The school’s motto is: “Committed to Excellence” and it was established in 2014.