The Lodge School - Middle Years 1880 To 1930

Middle Years 1880 To 1930

The Government leased the lands containing the school from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the school reopened in 1881 as a grant maintained First Grade School administered by a Governing Body with Mr Tracey as Headmaster. An Education Commission established by Bishop Mitchinson secured an affiliation of Codrington College to Durham University. Further improvements were made to the school, but its grammar school ethos remained unchanged. On the retirement of Tracey in 1892, and with frequent changes of headmasters, the school floundered somewhat. In 1899, when O. DeC. Emtage was appointed Headmaster, the school began to flourish again under his leadership and by 1902 it had outgrown its accommodation. Building works were started and new wings were constructed to provide a library, improved science lecture rooms and a reading room. Also at the turn of the century, Mr Emtage instituted the annual speech at which athletic meetings were held. Prior to 1900 these were only held occasionally. In 1903 the Cadet Corps at The Lodge started and was the first such unit in the West Indies.

The Latin quote "Possunt Quia Posse Videntur" by Roman poet Virgil is the school’s motto chosen by Mr Emtage, is also the school motto for Christ College, Brecon, Wales founded by Royal Charter in 1541 by King Henry VIII as well as for The Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles California. The English translation of the motto is "They Can Because They Think They Can". The school Arms and Crest were designed by Mrs Evan Sealy, wife of a former rector of St John in conjunction with Mr Emtage in the first decade of the twentieth century. The School crest of the leading sea horse comes from the Barbados Arms. The coat of Arms has a white field, indicative of purity and uprightnesss; a black and fess, hinting that the qualities signified by the field would be strenuously defended; and finally three Maltese crosses, the device of St John the Apostle and the Knights Templar of the same name. The fess and white field were adopted from the arms of Codrington College, the lions of the latter being replaced by Maltese crosses

When Mr Emtage resigned in 1931, the school could hardly be recognised as the one he took over in 1899. The Lodge School Record comments "trace what nerve of body politic you will and at its source, ruling our activities whence alone they can be ruled, siting where metaphor he had now sat for a quarter of a century, you will find the chief". The school roll at this time had increased to over 100, with nearly sixty being boarders.