This 88th Commemoration Day Service will long be remembered for its prayer circle. The final item of the service, the circle was formed when the 1500-student body with their teachers proceeded to the outermost reaches of the campus singing the well-known School Hymn “We Build Our School on Thee Oh Lord”. Once the campus had been encircled, everyone held hands as Chaplains Rev. Astor Carlyle and Rev. Stephen Mullings sent their prayers for the school over the school’s intercom from the Garden Theatre where the Commemoration Service had been held.
The prayer circle brought many alumnae and teachers to tears. Each year the school celebrates the anniversary of the school’s founding on September 21, 1925. This year the service theme was “Children Learn What They Live, Children Live What They Learn – What are we Learning? How are we Living? Guest Speaker Miss Heather Lyn, Ministry of Education Officer in the Special Education Unit delivered a rousing challenge to the girls on learning as a lifelong process of personal transformation.
The school’s Performing Arts Department, Dance Troupe, Head Girl Tamoi Reid, ISCF President Rochelle Gooden, St Andrew Old Girls’ Association President Nicole Marshall-Walker and members of the Board of Management all contributed to the morning’s programme.
Principal Sharon Reid explained the annual commemoration service as a public rededication to the Christian Mission of the school as laid down by the founders 88 years ago. “Our students continue to excel both nationally and internationally in academic and other spheres every year. We are grateful, ” she said “for the many blessings that the Lord has poured out on us.” Prayers of thanksgiving were said for the renovations of the Main Classroom Block, the Old Science Block and other buildings, which were completed over the summer – made possible by the dedication and work of the school, parents and alumnae.
A special offering was taken at the Service for The Missionaries of the Poor, Youth with a Mission, Plowden Primary and Infant School and the Padmore Primary School.