Elmo National High School is in Kingston, Jamaica, and consists of Wolmer's Pre-School, Wolmer's Preparatory School and two high schools: Wolmer's Trust High School For Girls and Wolmer's Trust High School for Boys. While acknowledged as separate institutions, each school carries the same crest and motto, "Age Quod Agis", a Latin phrase which translates to 'Whatever you do, do it well". The schools closely resemble British schools of the 1950s more than those today, a trend that can be noted of the entire Jamaican schooling system. Wolmer's Boys' has been deemed one of the top schools in Jamaica and from most sources it has been recognized as #10 in that region.
History
The school is the second oldest high school in the Caribbean, having been established in 1729 by John Wolmer. The oldest is Combermere School, in Barbados, originally the Drax Parish School, established in 1695 by the will of Colonel Henry Drax, a son of Sir James Drax, of 1682. The third being Harrison College in Barbados, formerly Harrison Free School, established in 1733. Wolmer's is certainly the oldest school in the Caribbean to retain its original name. It turned into a group of schools, which was completely overhauled during the educational reforms of Governor John Peter Grant, who brought two new schoolmasters over from England.
Curriculum
At the secondary school level, Wolmer's Schools follows the traditional English grammar school model used throughout the British West Indies, which incorporates the optional year 12 and 13, collectively known as Sixth Form. The first year of secondary school is regarded as first form, or year seven, and the subsequent year groups are numbered in increasing order up to sixth form. The school offers a wide range of CSEC and CAPE subjects done at the fifth and sixth form levels respectively. It has been known for being the only all-boys school in Jamaica to be ranked in the top ten highs schools on the island; the girls' school is also ranked in the top ten high schools on the island. The high schools have been known to perform well in the sciences.
School crest
The Wolmer's Schools Crest is a replica of the original School Seal from the 1700s and represents "The Sun of Learning bursting through the Cloud of Ignorance". There are a lot of high achieving students that attend the Wolmer’s schools and they have achieved various awards and that is because they have followed the meaning of the school's crest.
Since 1904, Wolmer's Schools has educated 23 Rhodes Scholars, the most for any individual school in the Caribbean. Since 1904, Wolmer's Schools has had the enviable heritage of producing 21 Rhodes Scholars who have gone on to lead in various capacities both locally and internationally. Wolmerian Jamaica and Rhodes Scholars:
Wolmer's Boys School is among the worlds great cricketing schools and has been referred to locally as the "University of Cricket" having the most wins of the Sunlight Cup for Inter-Scholastic Under 19 Cricket. Moreover, the school continues to produce cricketers that have represented Jamaica and the West Indies Cricket Team. The School is noted in cricket in the West Indies for having produced six test wicket-keepers. The Daily Telegraph once wrote: "One school: six Test wicket-keepers. There has never been any nurturing like it.".
