George Stephens Secondary marks 20th anniversary

by Grace Francis

The George Stephens, Snr Secondary School (GSSS), marked its 20th anniversary on Sunday, September 5, 2025. Named after former primary school principal, George Stephens, deceased, the secondary school was established in 2005, using the building of the old Colonaire Primary School. It is a product of the universal access to Secondary School Education, a policy of the current government.

The old primary school structure was transformed and expanded to accommodate the secondary institution.

At its inception, GSSS welcomed just 140 students and was staffed by nine educators. Its curriculum catered for students from Forms One through three. In the following years, as the curriculum expanded and students progressed, Forms Four and Five were added.

Senior teacher, Utila Harper-Byron, who has served at the institution for over 16 years, recalled the early challenges in an interview with SEARCHLIGHT.

“When the school started, all of the students that were here did not [meet] the required pass rate,” she said. Despite this initial hurdle, Harper-Byron emphasized that the school has made significant improvement over the years.

“Some persons still have the image in their head as though the school was established for failures. Since then, we have gone past that and really worked hard to change the perception as to how persons see us.”

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