Rector of the Holy Innocents Anglican Church, Rev. Anthony Harewood (second from left); Acting Principal of the Lester Vaughan School, Tanya Harding (second from right); and former Lester Vaughan School principals Captain Michael Boyce (right), who is now the Principal at Frederick Smith Secondary; and Sonja Goodridge, who recently became the first female Principal at Coleridge and Parry School, engaging in a conversation after Sunday’s anniversary church service.
AS the Lester Vaughan School celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, the Acting Principal Tanya Harding pledged that the institution will work closely with parents to ensure that students are taught good morals and values.
Speaking at a service at the Holy Innocents Anglican Church, St. Thomas, on Sunday, Harding pointed out that though the institution continues to excel in academics, sports and other areas of school life, the struggle to teach students the morals and values they need to know, continues.
She said from her interaction with students and parents, there is a need to get students to stop paying great attention to material things that cannot play a major role in their development.
Harding said it is important that students be taught important values that will make them good citizens of the nation.
“So much challenges that we face is in this world of instant gratification, where answers could be taught at the press of the button. It is hard for us to convince our students that they actually have to work hard for what they want,” Harding said.
“And even as we put in place programmes so that our children can develop, to ensure that they leave school with the values that we know are important in their lives, we have to forge greater ties with their parents. I have had parents sit in front of me, after their child has done something wrong, and say, ‘But she has everything she needs,’ when in fact, what that child needs is guidance in moral values,” she added.
The Acting Principal promised that as the school continues to grow, it will focus on ensuring students do well in sports and academics.
But she said getting parents involved in their children’s school life will also be seen as a priority. She indicated that parents must understand that a child’s lesson begins at home.
“A lot of parents don’t seem to realise that a child begins to learn from the time they open their eyes and they are seeing and hearing. What happens in the home before the child could even speak one word, says a lot for how that child would be as an adult.
“So certain things are happening in the home and certain things are said in the home, that’s what your child is absorbing,” Harding said.
Rector of the church, Rev. Anthony Harewood, prayed for the continued growth of the intuition, which has been named after an educator who made a major contribution to society.
At the service, Lester Vaughan’s choir delivered a sweet rendition of ‘How Great is Our God’.
The school officially turns 20 on Saturday, October 7. (AH)