Spotlight 4 Success
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Spotlight 4 Success
Global Education Meets Excellence
How does a school transform from "satisfactory" to "good" in just four years? Sheldon Thomas, Jamaica's Principal of the Year for 2025, joins us from the ASCD ISTE Conference in San Antonio to share his remarkable leadership journey at Ferncourt High School.
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Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Boat Company. I am Devin Pintosa, your host. We are here in sunny San Antonio, Texas, at the ASCD ISTE Conference and we are so excited to have with us the Principal of the Year for Jamaica for 2025. This is Sheldon Thomas with Fencourt High School. Thank you for joining us today, Sheldon.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, and it's a good opportunity for me to share what's happening in Jamaica and at my school on this platform. Thank you for having me, oh, wonderful.
Speaker 1:Can you tell us about what is going on at Sheldon High School that led to you becoming Principal of the Year?
Speaker 2:Okay, sure. So in 2024, our school was inspected by the National Education Inspectorate. During that inspection, our school previously was rated as satisfactory. But when they visited Fern Court in February of 2024, we were rated as good. So that is a big improvement for Ferncourt High School, all the way from St Anne. Also, when they look at our accomplishment as a school because I took over as principal since February 2020, right, so they have the improvement of my leadership over the period. I would have seen great improvement as it relates to academic performance, stakeholder partnership with the community, with alumni, and also improvement in students' behavior during that period between 2020 to 2024.
Speaker 1:Wonderful, yes, wow. So what a big change in a short period of time. Sure, so what do you think? What kind of leadership skills did you use, or initiatives, to get that rating higher for your school?
Speaker 2:Okay. So when I took over in February, I started with the vision what is my vision of the institution? And getting buy-in from the different stakeholders. So at the start, in terms of at each meeting, I always say to my parents, the students, academic staff, my vision of the school, where I want to take Ferncourt in the future, and that is what we use, and we would have different discussion how we can take Ferncourt utilizing that vision. And our vision is engaging stakeholders in acquiring knowledge, developing skills and building character to function globally. So that's the mission, the vision of the school. So in different meetings, when we identify, identify problems, we see how best we can get their back in. So I use a collaborative leadership style in terms of listening to persons the good and not so good at times. Sometimes it's a bit challenging but I have to listen for the bad or the negative feedback and see how best we can put forward solutions to address it. So that's how my style is collaborative leadership. Oh, that's so wonderful.
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Speaker 1:And can you tell me what brings you here to San Antonio today, to the ISTE Right?
Speaker 2:So, because of being the principal of the year, I've been funded by the Lascochin Foundation to fully paid trip here from Jamaica, here to San Antonio, texas.
Speaker 1:Very nice.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, it's part of the prize package. Wow. And I also have here persons here with the Teacher of the Year is also here as well, and our TV Teacher of the Year is here, so the three of us are here from Jamaica.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, oh, that is so great, great. Thank you. I hope you get a lot out of the conference here. Sure, sure. What are you hoping to get out of the conference to bring back to Jamaica?
Speaker 2:Well, so I'm trying to learn some best practices that I've seen so far and will take it back to Jamaica to share with other educators as well, because being part of the this award means that I have to go into schools to assist where possible, so that's part of the package as well to share what I've learned here, to see how best we can get Jamaica as well to be part of the global landscape as it relates to education.
Speaker 1:That is so awesome, sheldon. That is a great mission, even for this trip. Sure, do you have something you'd like to share with the ASCD ISTE community, the educational leaders, the technology specialists, everybody involved that are here at this conference now, a message you'd like to share with them?
Speaker 2:All right, so I would want to say that, for me, professional development is important, very important, and part of this conference. It means that we are preparing educators for the future, that we are preparing educators for the future, or we can go into our schools and change the landscape so that our learners can be better equipped for the future. That's awesome. Thank you so much Thank you for having me, Sheldon Thomas.
Speaker 1:Principal of the Year for Jamaica. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, thank you.