On this day in Caribbean history, September 30, 1911, the first government continuation school in Jamaica was built. In 1892 the Board of Education in Jamaica discovered that there was a lack of thousands of schools on the island, mostly in Kingston.
On the motion of the Reverend William Gillies it was decided to “establish one large graded elementary school for boys, and another for girls arranged in three divisions under the direction and supervision of the Board itself.”
“The school is to gradually grow into a centre for specialised manual instruction. Children from other Kingston schools are from the first to benefit by the training afforded by the Board School.”
These plans resulted in the establishment of the Board School taking over the former Mico College. In 1896 the Board secured the services as Headmaster of Mr. Peet, a trained and certificated English teacher and a qualified in wood-work. Shortly after this the name was changed to the Manual Training School.
In 1901 it was decided to close the Girls’ Department, and up to the time of the earthquake of 1907 the school consisted of a Kindergarten Department, and the Manual Training School. The school was temporarily closed to be used for governmental purposes and the manual training school was removed to Elletson Road.