About the Department of Education
Hi there and welcome to the Department of Education of Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. We are happy you chose to visit this site and we hope you will find your visit interesting and informative.
Our Purpose
The Department of Education exists to promote Christian education and to help make it available and beneficial to all our constituents. We are also responsible to give guidance and direction in the establishment of denominational schools and to supervise their operation.
Our Philosophy
Adventist Christian Education is based on biblical principles and subscribes to a Christian philosophy. This philosophy could perhaps be summarized as follows:
God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things; as Lord of all, ruling the universe according to His law of love. He is the source of all true knowledge and wisdom, which He seeks to share with mankind through various avenues, thus anything that is true and valuable that we learn is in some way a revelation of God. His most perfect revelation is in the person of Jesus Christ, God in human form, Saviour of the world. The truth about Jesus, about God’s laws and His efforts to reveal Himself to man are found in the Bible, which we hold as the standard by which all “truths” are judged and the sure guide for all moral decisions.
Man was created perfect and in the image of God. When sin entered the world mankind lost his original perfection and, along with the rest of creation, experienced a decline in beauty and perfection. God wants this trend reversed and to see His children once again look like Him in character and behaviour. Christian Education is cooperating with God’s plan to restore man to the image of God and lead him to re-claim his identity as God’s child; his purpose, which is to serve God and his fellowmen; and his destiny, to live forever with God.
This philosophy is expressed beautifully by Ellen White in the definition of “true education” given in her classic book Education.
“…it has to do with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the mental, the physical and the spiritual powers. It equips the student for the joys of service in this world and for the wider joy of higher service in the world to come…” – p.13.
A Unique Product
This philosophy determines our perspective on all facets of education: the curriculum (formal and informal) content and methodology, the student, the teacher, methods of evaluation and matters of discipline. It is designed to produce men and women who are balanced, honest, committed and productive citizens and candidates for Heaven when this life ends. It is therefore not like any other approach to education. It is, in fact, a unique product.
Our Institutions
The Seventh-day Adventist church around the world runs a network of schools and owns over 7,800 institutions that provide formal education from pre-school through university. In Jamaica, we operate one university – Northern Caribbean University (NCU), eight high schools and nineteen preparatory schools. In addition, there are many early childhood institutions – some of them operated by local congregations and others independently by members of the church.
Here are our institutions.
- Northern Caribbean University
- Harrison Memorial High School
- Kingsway High School
- Portland High School
- Port Maria High School
- Savanna-la-mar High School
- St. Ann’s Bay High School
- Victor Dixon High School
- Willowdene High School
- Harrison Memorial Preparatory School
- Kingsway Preparatory School
- Portland Preparatory School
- Port Maria Preparatory School
- Savanna-la-mar Preparatory School
- St. Ann’s Bay Preparatory School
- West Indies College Preparatory School
- Willowdene Preparatory School
- Jointwood Preparatory School
- Bull Savannah Preparatory School
- Darliston Preparatory School
- March Town Preparatory School
- Falmouth Preparatory School
- Buff Bay Preparatory School
- Hagley Park Preparatory School
- New Hope Preparatory School
- Woodford Preparatory School
- Miramar Kinder-Prep School
- Campbell’s Castle Preparatory School
Click here for additional details on these institutions.
