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Principal Merlyn Innocent

Message From Principal

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Principal Merlyn Innocent
Merlyn Polimus- Innocent (Mrs.)
Principal

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the Patricia D. James Secondary School Webpage.
I feel privileged to be the Principal of such an exciting school, which offers so many great opportunities for our students. It is our goal to assist each and every student to ensure that they succeed. We offer our students the best possible opportunities to become confident, thoughtful young people who are prepared for any future challenges, in an exciting and increasingly Global Community.
At the Patricia D. James Secondary School, we are very proud of the caring, inclusive environment that we provide for our students. We also set high standards and expectations for our students to achieve. We expect our students to behave at their very best at all times. From the moment a new student enters our school community we want them to feel a sense of contentment and belonging as this is crucial to their future success. Our devoted staff enables us to deliver our programmes in an environment that is warm, friendly and in agreement with all CSEC’s requirements as stated by the Department of Education

Our Mission is to provide a well– rounded education to our students, that will lead to their self development and prepare them for service. We aim for all our students to achieve this by:

Improving their basic skills in Literacy and numeracy in order for them to work above functional levels.

Improving levels of progress and achievement for students arriving at the school with weak levels of literacy and numeracy

Increasing the opportunities available to students in co-curricular activities
Our Theatre Arts, Music, Food and Nutrition and Sports Departments are vibrant and make us proud on a daily level. In October every year the school hosts a very popular Creole Day Pageant alongside a Creole Iron Chef Competition. Our Inter- House Sports Meets are very competitive where students participate in various sports including Basketball, Cricket, Netball, Cycle Races and Road Relays to name a few. Our Theatre Arts Department put together a production every year for graduation that is a “Must See.”
Visitors are always welcome to make an appointment to visit us and see what we have to offer.
We look forward to welcoming all our future students and parents.

VBSS becomes PDJSS

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On September 2, 2019 a renaming ceremony was held at Church of Our Lady of Fatima Church in La Clery to make the official name change from Vide Bouteille Secondary School to Patricia D. James Secondary School.

  • Vice Principle Peter Louisy presenting a token to the late Ms. Patricia D. James
  • Ms Patricia James Cutting ribbon
    Ribbon cutting with Ms Patricia James, late former principal and Mrs M. Innocent, current principal and Hon. Stephenson King.
  • Plaque in Foyer on Renaming of School and its First Principal
  • Ms James with Ms. M. Foster (EO of District II)
  • Cake replica of PDJSS compound
  • Ms James at Renaming Ceremony September 2, 2019
  • Ms James in Quadrangle at PDJSS

Ms. Patricia James ‘started her early education at the Anglican Infant and Primary Schools after which she gained acceptance at the St. Joseph’s Convent. Miss James then went on to study at the Saint Lucia Teachers’ College from 1964 to 1965 to become a qualified teacher.
After completing her stint there, she taught at the Castries Anglican Infant School from 1962 to 1964 and 1965 to 1968. She then went on to further education at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados from 1968 to 1972.
On her return to St. Lucia Ms. James taught at the St. Joseph’s Convent for a period of 17 years from 1972 to 1989. Ms. James became the first Principal of the Vide Bouteille Secondary School in 1989 until 2002.
In 2003 she took on a teaching assignment at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. She taught there until 2009.
In September, 2019 the Cabinet of Ministers through the Department of Education renamed the Vide Bouteille Secondary School after Ms. Patricia D. James in recognition of her dedicated service to the school community.