A small school’s big day - Grove celebrates 9 graduates as past student establishes scholarship in honour of mom

Despite having just nine graduates this year, Grove Primary and Infant School in St Andrew marked the occasion in style, with the establishment of a scholarship fund by a past student and the merging of its prizegiving function into the commencement ceremony.
Its principal, Francine Taylor Arnett, told The Gleaner that six students graduated from the infant department, and three were from grade six.
“I wanted to use that opportunity as a motivational factor for the students so they at the different grade levels can experience what it would be like when it’s their turn,” she said of the decision to merge prizegiving and graduation.
Taylor Arnett said the small graduating class did not diminish the celebrations at the rural school yesterday, noting that one student, Isaiah Johnson, achieved highly proficient in all areas of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) Examination and will be moving on to Calabar High School in the Corporate Area.
Isaiah was also the recipient of the $50,000 scholarship fund established by a past student, Dr Sharon Robinson-Rowe, in honour of her mother, Lorna Robinson, a former teacher at the school.
For Isaiah’s mother, Dorissa Hemming, the scholarship is an on-time blessing. She told The Gleaner that she was already trying to figure out how she would pay his upcoming school expenses.
Hemming, who is a single mother, explained that she moved from the United States (US) to Jamaica with Isaiah in 2023 to fulfill a promise she made to his father who was shot and killed when she was seven months’ pregnant with their son.
Before coming to Jamaica, Isaiah was homeschooled in the US.
It was his father’s wish for him to be educated in Jamaica, she said.
Expressing pride in her son’s academic achievement, she said she was not surprised as he has always been brilliant.
“Isaiah started reading at the age of two years old. He been doing math by age three. So he’s always been pretty brilliant. but the most spectacular part is that his father would be so proud of him,” she said.
She said Isaiah, who is 13 years old, is the first of three children and is a great role model to his younger siblings.
The Gordon Town resident said she transferred her son to Grove to complete his grade-six studies and is very pleased with her choice.
“Everybody loves him, and he loves everybody,” the 40-year-old online clothes retailer said.
The 130-year-old school, situated on a hillside overlooking the Hope River, currently has an enrollment of 87 students.
Students are generally from the nearby communities of Cornfield, Kintyre, Mammee River, and Gordon Town in the parish.
With a capacity to accommodate 300 students, Taylor Arnett said the school has been actively trying to recruit students, and ceremonies like graduation are a big part of this push as it helps to promote the school’s accomplishments.
“While the numbers are of concern, we are still optimistic because we are always getting students coming in. We may not get our registration complete at the start of the school year, but students are always coming, always coming. Some will leave but they will come in, and we were always a small school,” she said.
The island’s primary schools have been facing a major enrollment crisis, with more than 600 of them operating well below capacity.
There have been three main factors resulting in the emptying classrooms: falling birth rates, rural-to-urban migration, and rising operational costs threatening smaller private schools.
Taylor Arnett said the Grove school community operates like a family, catering to students beyond their academic needs.
“We have a nurturing environment. So we not only cater to their academic needs but also the emotional side of them,” she said. “We provide lunch meals for them. So no student, whether they’re on PATH (Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education) or not, ever come to or walk through the gates of Grove and have to be there at school with an empty stomach.”
She said the school’s record also shows marked improvement in students’ academics as they progress.
“When we look at our data, for example, a child might come into the school who is not or [is] below the grade level significantly. And by the year end, that child would have improved to grade one or grade two if the child is probably at grade three,” she said.
“The evidence is here that we have worked very hard to ensure that this child or these students have made marked improvements.”
As the school year closes, she said her staff of eight teachers are already assessing how they can enhance their pedagogy for the upcoming school term.
“We continue to grow. And, might I just say, in terms of our academic performance, we have a steady improvement. We have been making steady improvement since COVID,” she said. 
sashana.small@gleanerjm.com