School History Merl Grove High School began as a preparatory school shortly before 1920 at the home of Nathaniel Speid, a retired elementary school teacher on Marverly Lane, off Molynes Road. By 1920, the Speids had moved to 77 Constant Spring Road and the school was conducted in a little two-roomed building in font of their house, facing the road. The numbers increased to approximately 30 pupils and soon the Little Red School, so called because it was painted red, expanded. Nathaniel Speid was requested by families in the Half Way Tree area to teach their less brilliant children. However, his idea was to educate the little child of the average man, and together with his daughter Miriam, the dream was to make secondary education available to a wider section of the community. As the numbers grew, the Little Red House was expanded into a two storey building and in 1924 Miriam Speid , who had for twelve years been teaching at Richmond Deaconess School, returned to Kingston to help her parents. She introduced Spanish, French and the Sciences to the schools curriculum. The School was named Merl Grove. According to Miriam Speid, her mother Virginia had five children with two of them having the same initial R, so her mother used the capital letters of each name M for Miriam, E for Effey, R, for Reginald and Ruth and L for Lucille to form MERL. The area around had a lot of different fruit trees and because of the many trees it was called GROVE hence MERL GROVE. Merl Grove then changed from preparatory school to a private secondary school, and Miriam became the first headmistress when her father retired. She pursued the quest for excellence, and in 1928, the Government Inspector of Schools classified Merl Grove along with other schools as Grade 1. Not generally well known, is the fact that Merl Grove was the first secondary school in the island to form a Parent Teachers Association. This association came into being at the suggestion of a relative of Miriam Speid. It gave and continues to give constant support and encouragement to the school and has made valuable contributions over the years. At the request of Miss Speid, in 1955, the school was taken over by the Associated Gospel Assemblies and a period of expansion followed. The school became a Government - grant aided in 1957 for girls only and so reluctantly Merl Grove stopped admitting boys. The following year more land was required for playing fields and the Little Red School gave way to the Rehoboth Gospel Assembly which the school used for worship and for functions such as graduation. Property at 3 Dunrobin Avenue was also bought for Administrative and Staff Room facilities. Each of the principals over the years has added to the curriculum offerings as well as the physical infrastructure. Co-curricular activities and a values and attitudes programme play a role in the curriculum. The school concerns itself with helping every student to realize her full potential and is known to facilitate students with special challenges. Principals who have served are: Miss Miriam Speid 1928-1959 Mrs. Muriel Lynch-Rackham - 1960-1968 Mrs. Ellorine Walker - 1968-1980 Mrs. Enid Kerr - 1980-1992 Mrs. J. Barbara Martin - 1992-1998 Mrs. Vera Nugent - 1998-2002 Miss Amy Allen - 2002-2011 Mrs. Carol Alexander - Presently The school colours are Blue and Gold but are complimented by a variety of house colours to which students are clad during their sporting activities. House Names and Colours Gibson - Green Karram - Orange Manley - Blue Sherlock - Red Speid - Yellow Walker - Purple
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 19:59:35 +0000
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