The Westwood High School is a school located in Stewart Town, Trelawny, Jamaica. It was founded in 1882 by Baptist Minister Reverend William Menzie Webb with the aim to provide unsegregated education for girls. The school also set up a board of trustees to represent the different Protestant denominations.[1] It caters to secondary students and after 36 years reopened its sixth-form programme in 2014. Westwood is among the five boarding remaining in Jamaica and has been the only school to retain the tradition of wearing a jippi-jappa (Panama) hat.[2]

Amy Ashwood Garvey, a Pan-Africanist activist and the first wife of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, was a student of the school.[3] Iris Collins, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives, also attended the school.[4] Gwendolyn Spencer, a nurse and midwife who co-founded the Jamaican Midwives' Association, also attended the school.[5] Anne Walmsley, an editor, scholar, critic and author, taught at the school for three years.[6]

References

  1. ^ Jensen, Peta Gay (2005). The Last Colonials: The Story of Two European Families in Jamaica. I.B.Tauris. p. 39. ISBN 9781845110338.
  2. ^ "Hats Off To Westwood! - Trelawny School Rises From Humble Beginnings To Take Place Among Jamaica's Best". The Gleaner. 28 July 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  3. ^ Martin, Tony, "Garvey, Amy Ashwood (1895/1897–1969)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006. Accessed 22 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Westwood celebrates 130 years". Jamaica Observer. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  5. ^ Lim, Ann-Margaret (September 2012). "Remembering Gwendoyln Spencer, OD Midwife extraordinaire". Kingston College Times. Kingston, Jamaica: Kingston College Old Boys' Association. 9. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017. Reprint from The Jamaica Observer((cite journal)): CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  6. ^ "About the author (1989)", The Sun's Eye: West Indian Writing for Young Readers.

18°23′46″N 77°27′25″W / 18.396°N 77.457°W / 18.396; -77.457

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