History

Bocage Secondary School

A BRIEF HISTORY

Before hurricane Allen in 1980 this school on the hill was the Bocage combined school. However, after the hurricane demolished part of the building it was now used as an extension of the Morne Dudon primary school. The senior students were assigned to Bocage and staff members were assigned the responsibility of teacher in charge. The Morne Dudon school’s principal, Miss Cooper, made occasional visits to the extension of her school.

A few years later the school started to function independently and accepted students from other school. It was then officially named the Bocage Senior Primary school. The majority of the student population came from the Castries basin. There was no standard uniform as students were allowed to dress in their respective “primary school” uniform.

 

They were assigned to form levels according to age range and were forced to leave school at the age of fifteen years. Therefore, there was no formal graduation ceremony. For this reason, some student spent one academic year while other spent two or three years.

 

Two different types of examinations were administered to students in form two or three. Student of form two’s wrote the standard six leaving school certificate examination and form three student wrote the common middle examination which qualified them to enter a secondary school based on their performance.

 

The school went through significant changes under the leadership of Mrs. Wells who was teacher in charge at the time.

 

She initiated the following: (1) standard school uniform- lemon top and grey bottom, black shoes and socks; (2) morning and evening school prayer –fortunately this prayer is still recited by the student of the secondary school.

 

In 1991, the ministry of education appointed Mr. Jerome Girard as principal of the Bocage senior primary school. He served for 2 year and in 1993, Mrs. Marylene Charles was appointed principal when Mr. Jerome Girard did not return during the commencement of the year.

 

The school was upgraded to secondary status in 1994 but had to transition from senior primary to secondary status. During that particular school year, they continue the senior primary programme while new student were registered to begin the secondary school curriculum for form three’s.

 

There was a form three senior primary and secondary school form three. The form three senior student who wrote the common middle exam and scored over 40% were sent to other secondary schools although Bocage was already upgraded to secondary status. However, the students who scored below 40% remained at the school to begin the secondary programme.

 

There was absolutely no change in the physical structure to facilitate the upgrading. However, eventually, in order to accommodate this change, a shift system was introduced to facilitate the construction in of new buildings. Three new blocks were built over a period of time with the completion of the final phase in 2007.

 

In 1995, the senior primary was phase out and the first group of form ones were registered. They entered the secondary school for the first time. The school started at 8:15 and ended at 2:40pm. The first secondary school principal was Mrs. Marylene Charles who served until 2002 who was later transferred to the corporate planning of the ministry of education. Mrs. Arlette Cenac was appointed vice-principal in 2002. She served as principal for 5 years and retired in July 2007.

 

Mrs. Marie Malaykhan, who was officially appointed vice- principal in 2001, became the principal in September 2007. Mr. Dawson Ragunanan was appointed vice principal in 2009. In addition there are 40 staff members including the counselor and the special Education teacher. The bursar and the secretary are essential in ensuring that school processes run smoothly.

 

To maintain the school surroundings and security there are: 3 janitors,1 caretaker, 1full-time security officer and 6 watchmen.

 

The school currently has a population of 411 students(235 Males,176 Females). They are offered a total of 20 subjects (both academic and technical).For the last 2-3 years the school has embarked on an initiative to create a child friendly school great improvement have been seen with student taking up leadership roles.

 

The school continues to perform well in the technical areas such as food and nutrition, technical draw registered in form one come in with scores in the lower 40’s and 50’s. Still many of them perform well.

 

The school’s greatest sporting achievements have been in athletics. There is still mush room for improvement especially in the provision of sporting facilities for student to develop their talents.

 

Finally, the Bocage Secondary school continues to strive for the highest standard as it continues to be led by the motto “DISCIPLINE AND DETERMINATION FOR SUCCESS”.