Queen's College is a public secondary school in Barbados that was established in 1883. It is a multi-racial school with students drawn from a wide cross-section of the Barbadian community. It comprises eleven departments in which approximately thirty-three subject areas are taught. Annually a high percentage of Queen's College graduates enter

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

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History

Queen's College was established as a result of the recommendation of an Education Commission whose report suggested that

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

required a first grade school for girls similar to that in the top educational institutions in

. The school commenced operations at Constitution Road in

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The Ci ...

on 29 January 1883 with thirty-three female students. Their ages ranged from three to nineteen. The school was managed by a Board of Governors and the first

headmistress A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

was an Englishwoman, Helen Veich-Brown. The school roll steadily increased and in 1946, the place of Queen's College as an institution of academic excellence was firmly established when Elsie Pilgrim became the first female in Barbados to be awarded the prestigious Barbados Government Scholarship. In 1970,

Elsie Payne Dame Elsie Payne ( Pilgrim; 14 May 1927 – 25 August 2004) was a teacher and following independence she became the first Barbadian-born principal of Queen's College in Bridgetown. She was the first woman knighted in Barbados for her long ded ...

(née Pilgrim) became its first Barbadian headmistress, and during her tenure of office,

co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

was introduced, when thirty-eight first form boys entered the school in 1980. After Dame Elsie Payne's retirement, Colleen Winter-Brathwaite was appointed headmistress of the school in 1985. She was followed by Coreen Kennedy in 1997. The school's first headmaster, Dr. David Browne, was appointed in July 2008. Queen's College existed as an all-girls school until 1981 when it became a co-educational secondary school. It relocated from Constitution Road to its present site in Husbands, St. James, in 1990.

Notable alumnae

* Donna Babb-Agard, QC, Director of Public Prosecutions * Natalie Burke, soca singer *

Esther Byer-Suckoo Esther R. Byer-Suckoo (born 1968) is a Barbadian physician and politician. She is the former Barbados Minister of Labor and a member of the Democratic Labour Party. Early life and education Esther Byer-Suckoo was born on September 10, 1968, in ...

, Former Government MP * Jeena Chatrani, Fine Artist *

Alissandra Cummins Alissandra Cummins (born 30 October 1958) is a Barbadian art historian, educator, and scholar; she is a leading expert on Caribbean heritage, museum development, and art. Cummins is Director of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society and she is a ...

, Chair of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

* Daphne Joseph-Hackett * Dame

Sandra Mason Dame Sandra Prunella Mason (born 17 January 1949) is a Barbadian politician, lawyer, and diplomat who is serving as the first president of Barbados since 2021. She was previously the eighth and final governor-general of Barbados from 2018 to ...

, GCMG, DA, QC, President of Barbados *

Kay McConney Kay Sharon McConney is a Barbadian politician in the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). She is a senator in the Senate of Barbados. She currently serves as the Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training in the Mia Mottley Mia Amor M ...

, Senator. Minister of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology * Michael Mikey Mercer, soca singer * Dame

Billie Miller Dame Billie Antoinette Miller, DA, OOC (born 8 January 1944) is a Barbadian politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister. Miller is a member of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). Early life and education Billie Miller's father, the late F ...

, Former Deputy Prime Minister * Lucille Moe, Senator. Former Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Public Affairs *

Mia Mottley Mia Amor Mottley, (born 1 October 1965) is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to hold ...

, Prime Minister * Dame

* Monica Skeete (1923-1997), poet * Dame Patricia Symmonds *

Elizabeth Thompson Elizabeth Southerden Thompson (3 November 1846 – 2 October 1933), later known as Lady Butler, was a British painter who specialised in painting scenes from British military campaigns and battles, including the Crimean War and the Napoleonic ...

, MP * Marion Vernese Williams, Central Bank Governor

References

External links

* Schools in Barbados Saint James, Barbados Educational institutions established in 1883 1883 establishments in the British Empire {{Caribbean-school-stub