The inaugural Helen Douglas Awards Ceremony was held on Thursday, February 20 2014 at the St. Michael’s Anglican Church, Victoria Street. In addition to our Principal, Mr. Dave Myrie and Chaplain, Rev’d Canon Abner Powell, special guests included our Honouree, Miss Helen Douglas, Mr. Audley Hewett, Mr. K. Churchill Neita, QC, Mr. Stewart Jacobs (President of the KCPTA) and Dr. Patrick Dallas (President, KCOBA Jamaica). The chairman for the ceremony was Mr. Dean Smith, former Head Boy.
Miss Douglas presented a brief and very inspirational speech to the awardees.
As part of the school’s push towards excellence in relation to discipline and academics, it was felt that a special awards ceremony was necessary to get the students to aim for excellence in all areas of school life. With this in mind, the Helen Douglas Awards Ceremony came into being. The decision was taken to name these awards after Helen Douglas, a KC stalwart, as she epitomized the characteristics on which these awards are based, academic excellence and good conduct. Miss Douglas served Kingston College for thirty-seven (37) years and was known as a strong disciplinarian who always stressed the importance of good conduct and its role in achieving academic excellence. This is not just another prize-giving ceremony.
The Helen Douglas Awards were given to students who had achieved a good academic level as well as a good level of conduct for the 2013 Christmas Term. The awards were presented in three (3) categories, namely, Letter of Commendation, Certificate (Lower Division) and Certificate (Upper Division) and the academic criteria varied based on Grade level.
For Grades 7-9, students who achieved a minimum average of 65%, a minimum of 4A’s (80%+), not more than one (1) grade below 50% (but not below 45%) and nothing worse than two (2) detentions received a Letter of Commendation, while students who achieved a minimum average of 70% with not more than one (1) grade below 50% (but not below 45%) and nothing worse than two (2) detentions, received a Certificate (Lower Division). Students who received a minimum average of 80% with no failing grades and no detention or suspension, received a Certificate (Upper Division) and a Gift voucher of $500.
For Grades 10 and 11, students who achieved a minimum average of 65%, not more than one (1) grade below 50% (but not below 45%) and nothing worse than two (2) detentions received a Letter of commendation, while students who achieved a minimum average of 70% and a minimum of 3As (80%+) OR a minimum average of 75% and a minimum of 2As (80%+) not more than one (1) grade below 50% (but not below 45%) and nothing worse than two (2) detentions, received a Certificate (Lower Division). Students who received a minimum average of 75%, a minimum of 4A’s (80 %+), with no failing grades and no detention or suspension, received a Certificate (Upper Division) and a Gift voucher of $500.
For Grades 12 and 13, students who achieved a minimum average of 65%, not more than one (1) grade below 50% (but not below 45%) and nothing worse than two (2) detentions received a Letter of commendation, while students who achieved a minimum average of 70%, not more than one (1) grade below 50% (but not below 45%) and nothing worse than two (2) detentions, received a Certificate (Lower Division). Students who received a minimum average of 70%, a minimum of 2A’s (80 %+), with no failing grades and no detention or suspension, received a Certificate (Upper Division) and a Gift voucher of $500.
One hundred and forty-six (146) students received Letters of Commendation, three hundred and sixty-four (364) students received Certificates (Lower Division) and one hundred and twenty-nine (129) received Certificates (Upper Division). In addition, students of grades 7-9 who achieved a minimum average of 85% with no conduct blemishes and students of grades 10-13 who achieved a minimum average of 80% with no conduct blemishes received a special ‘A’ STUDENT badge. Forty-five (45) students received these badges.
The top student for each year group was presented with a plaque while the top students for the lower school (Andrew Mullings – average of 91.5%) and upper school (Torrain Findley – average of 89.3%) each received a trophy and an iPad.
The classes with the highest number of awardees (Upper & Lower School) and the classes with the fewest numbers of detentions/suspensions (Upper & Lower School) received a large cake.
One of the main focuses of these awards is discipline and in light of this, students who achieved the academic criteria but fell down in the area of conduct either did not receive an award or were relegated to a lower level award.
As mentioned earlier, the aim of these awards is to motivate our students to achieve excellence in their academic work as well as their conduct and with this in mind, the academic and conduct criteria will be adjusted upwards periodically or as is deemed necessary in order to increase the drive towards excellence and to prevent complacency.
The ceremony was very well attended by students and parents and was indeed a memorable occasion. This ceremony will be held twice yearly, after the Christmas and Easter Terms. We welcome the financial support of our KCOBAs across the world as we look forward to presenting the next set of awards.
Helen Douglas joined the staff of Kingston College in January 1970 and left in August 2007.
During her tenure, she served the school in many capacities. She was Head of the French Department and Vice Principal for many years. In fact, she was the first female to act as Vice Principal at Kingston College. In this role she dealt with admissions, staffing, promotion of students, timetabling among her many duties.
She was hardly ever absent from school and could be found at KC on Saturdays and Sundays, sometimes even up to 12:00 midnight. She shared a friendly rapport with her colleagues and her charges. Her qualities of devotion to duty, dedication to discipline and excellence, and her commitment to Kingston College are unparalleled.