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Inside the new auditorium at the St. Lucy Secondary School. (Photo courtesy of Kimberly Cummins)??

Come October, the St. Lucy Secondary School will be officially renamed in honour of its first principal, Daryll Jordan, and will be home to a new state-of-the-art auditorium.

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Minister of Education, Ronald Jones and Permanent Secretary, Cecile Humphrey along with other education officials as they inspected ongoing work on the new auditorium at the St. Lucy Secondary School, soon to be renamed the Daryll Jordan Secondary School.?? (Photo courtesy of Kimberly Cummins)??

Minister of Education, Ronald Jones, made this disclosure after a tour of the soon-to-be finished facility at the school’s, Trent’s, St. Lucy location, today.?? Noting that Mr. Jordan was renowned in the north for his leadership and humanitarianism, he added that the former principal’s name readily came to mind as the unanimous choice when the decision was made to rename the school.??

Work on the auditorium started in 2009, and is set to be completed in time for the start of the new school term, ahead of its official naming in October. "Even though it is not totally complete, it is an absolutely beautiful and outstanding facility… It will mean that the community in the north will have a facility for good theatre and musical productions and this is something that has been needed for quite some time," Minister Jones remarked.

Architect, Michael Clarke, pointed out that the auditorium would seat 900 on the floor and 250 upstairs.?? It has also been designed to be used for indoor sports and will be fully equipped for stage productions.?? Subterranean excavation work revealed challenges, and though it called for additional resources, had resulted in a basement level which has been earmarked to house some five classrooms, physical education lecture rooms , a soundproof music room, and storage facilities.

The construction of the facility cost just shy of BDS $5M, and additional refurbishment of the school is on the cards, as part of the school was damaged by the passing of Tropical Storm Tomas in October 2010. The auditorium is also slated to be used as a category one hurricane shelter.

Minister Jones was accompanied on the tour by members of the project office of the Ministry; Permanent Secretary, Cecile Humphrey; Principal of the school, Stephen Jackman; Deputy Principal, Verna Cozier; and Chairman of the Board, Morris Springer.

lisa.bayley@barbados.gov.bb

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