Philosophy

Goodwood Secondary School has been founded on the principle of discipline as a foundational element for the development of the whole child long before ‘whole child’ strategies became buzz words. There were and continue to be rigorous attempts to maintain a pristine physical environment. The grounds are well maintained to provide arguably the most scenic secondary school campus in Tobago.

The students must be disciplined in the adherence to the uniform codes and attendance. The belief in discipline extends to the need for students to commit to working hard and working consistently, academically. Our school believes in partnering with parents and stipulates that attendance at Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings be a requirement for graduation from the school in year five.

Communication with the home is therefore fluid and on-going. A small intimate instructional environment is the goal as teachers can better engage in differentiation to cater to the needs of each student. Smaller class sizes and a move towards three classes per form level was then an initiative about which school leaders dialogued with Division of Education Youth Affairs and Sport (DEYAS) administrators in in 2015 and 2016. This has been achieved with the largest class having 27 students in the 2020 form one year. The objective is under threat with the proposed increase in student assigned without any plan to address the infrastructural deficiencies. Finally, the aim is to provide a diverse technical curriculum that caters to the needs of the students at our school. Students must leave with an entrepreneurial focus of self-sufficiency, whether heading into tertiary studies or immediate employment.

The rationale in the formulation of this school development plan is therefore to provide an assessment of the current status of the school and use that as the baseline to build a framework for the advancement of the goals and objectives over the next three years. The challenge in collecting and processing the data remotely in a pandemic must be registered. The plan is presented in various sub-sections for easy monitoring and evaluation that are linked to iterated improved student outcomes.