Born in the Grenadines, raised in Trinidad, educated in England and the U.S., and working most recently in the Atlanta area, Samuel Belmar took a circuitous route to the principal’s office at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School in St. Thomas. But he has no doubt he’s where he should be.
“When the Bishop (Herbert Bevard) calls, you answer,” he said. Besides, “I am a recipient of Catholic education. I always wanted to offer something back to education when I retired.”
Belmar has taught school in the primary, secondary and tertiary levels for 34 years. He’s done quite a bit of consulting work and for years has served on the Caribbean Examination Council, which sets standards for schools throughout the British Caribbean. He thought he was ready to stop working full-time and cut back to consulting work. Instead, he’s now the hands-on chief administrator for a school with about 245 students, from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
Belmar and his wife of 30 years, Carmen, both moved to St. Thomas last summer so he could take the position of principal. She is also an educator and has a master’s degree in counseling; she teaches language arts in Sts. Peter and Paul’s middle school and religion to fifth graders.
One of his goals is prepare students to function well anywhere in the world.
“We’re aligning our curriculum with not only national but international models,” he said. All the Catholic schools in the territory are also working towards a standardized curriculum.
In recent years, art and music and technology have been assigned a minor role at the school, with little offered except as after school activities. Under Belmar, the school is expanding those subjects, both within the curriculum and as extra-curricular activities. It has formed a steel pan band and has started a choir. There are even occasional cooking lessons.
While some people may downplay the so-called non-academic courses, Belmar said, “They are part of the human system that help us to learn. I look at the holistic development of the child.”
There is also an emphasis on character development. Each Monday, in a morning assembly, a student from each grade is honored as a Student of the Week for his or her achievement/improvements in the preceding week.
The school also has developed a team-building system of “houses” that compete against one another for recognition in academics and other areas. Each student belongs to one of the four “houses” – St. Paul, St. Peter, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, or Joan of Arc. Each house has students from all 14 grades who help one another and share success. The memberships are determined at random, by computer, Belmar said. The only adjustment made is to ensure that members of the same family are in the same house.
