A Jamaican Childhood -- Off to High School

This is a photo of my mother, Maud Levy, taken on the front verandah of our home at 5 Holborn Road. I was thinking of her as today, February 16^th, is her birthday and I have to thank her for her decision to send me to St.Andrew High School at 10 Cecelio Avenue, St. Andrew,when I left Surbiton Preparatory School at the age of nine.

 I have a few photos of the school and my time there, but none from when I first started in 1944 in the Third Form.  The photo above is of the front of the school with two of my later teachers, Miss Stockhausen and Miss Stewart, in the background. You can just see the famous front steps of the office, which no student was permitted to climb!  The building, which housed offices, the kitchen and eating areas, as well as dormitories, was originally Cecelio Lodge, owned by Cecil Lindo. The school has expanded considerably since my time there.

I remember that my mother first walked me to school but as I got older I walked there by myself … it wasn’t far. I used to cut through the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eric Clark whose house had entrances on both Holborn Road and Ruthven Road which ran somewhat parallel to Holborn Road. From there I would walk down Ruthven Road, turn right on Strathairn Avenue, and then left on Cecelio Avenue. This is a satellite picture of the school as it is now .

When I got older I was given a bicycle, a ladies Rudge-Whitworth, and I rode that trusty bike to school every day. Here’s a photo of what it most likely looked like 

and here I am, on the bike, in school uniform 

I have very fond memories of my school days at St. Andrew High School, or SAHS as we would call it in shorthand. In my next post I’ll expand on my school days there