On the 27th of September 1978, Portmore gave birth to Bridgeport Secondary School. Since then the name was changed from Bridgeport Secondary to Bridgeport Comprehensive High in 1991, when the school got its first batch of Common Entrance students.

 

The school has since been reclassified to Bridgeport High School in September 2000, under the full reclassification of secondary education purported by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Jamaica.

 

The Conception of Bridgeport High School

 

The school building was incomplete at its beginning, so registration was done at a building beside the canal in Bridgeview. That building which was used as a meeting place for clubs and societies is now expanded and is used to house a day care centre.

 

When school began on this compound it was quite an uncomfortable experience as students and teachers had to be mingling with the workmen and putting up with the various sounds of construction. Let’s pause to recapture how the bini-shell was constructed.

 

West Indies Home Contractors which constructed the building, made a thick layer of concrete and a special machine was used to blow the mortar up until it got its required shape - the shape of the dome. Incidentally, this is where our first magazine entitled “The Dome” got its name.

 

The school started without a canteen. The canteen now in operation, was started by the Social Studies Department with funds derived from a cultural exposition. The school could not afford to pay additional workers so some teachers had to stop teaching at specific times to assist with the cooking.

 

The bini-shell was the official dining room. Lunch tables were set up in the bini-shell. Since there was also a stage in the bini-shell, students sometimes had lunch hour concerts as they dined.

 

Oh! how we enjoyed those presentations. Unfortunately the tables and the chairs were destroyed. A water cooler which once provided the students with cool refreshing water was installed.

 

From 1997-2000, metal container shells were acquired with the assistance of the Ministry of Education & Culture, the Jamaica Container Repair Services and fundraising at the school. to the tune of two million dollars.

 

These new buildings now housed the Cosmetology, Performing Arts, Work experience, Counselling and Examination Centres and a tuck shop.

 

The Work Experience, counseling and examination centres (known as the Students’ Resource Centre) were officially opened in 1998 in a ceremony consistent with the convictions and commitments of the school.

 

The representatives from the government, private sector companies and community leaders, staff members and the student population shared in the act of dedication of the centres.