Around Bermuda yesterday, students returning to school were greeted by freshly-painted classrooms.

But St. George's Secondary School students went to a new school -- complete with a cafeteria, a proper gym, a new family studies area and, best of all, air conditioning.

The US Navy quit the St. David's Base on September 1, and St. George's Secondary's 220 students and 30 staff members have moved into the modern Roger B. Chaffee School on the former Base.

"It's like a high school, instead of just a big open space like we had before,'' said Fifth Year student Miss Tyciee White, 17. "It's a great facility.'' "The school is a lot more organised,'' said Mr. Brian Botelho, 16, another Fifth Year student. "We are all together. It should be a lot easier to learn.'' At the old St. George's Secondary School, a converted military barracks, there were no clear boundaries between the school and the community and students had to go outside in the rain to move from class to class.

"It was difficult,'' said principal Mrs. Charlotte Ming, who spent last year at the old St. George's after nine years as the head of Harrington Sound Primary School. "People just drove in and out and had themselves a field day.'' Mrs. Ming maintains that the poor facility did not keep students from learning. "Many of our children achieved what they had set their minds to achieve,'' she said.

"We had a few students attending Bermuda College. If they wanted to learn, it was there for them.'' However, she felt the school environment had an important impact on the attitudes of students.

"Already, you can see their self-esteem rising,'' she said. "They feel good about themselves. They're not hot and fussy and on each other's nerves like they were before.

"The environment has a lot to do with achievement.'' Yesterday, when Mrs. Ming called all the students together in the gym, it was the first time St. George's students had been able to gather for an assembly all in one place.

"I laid down all the rules,'' Mrs. Ming said. "I'm not accepting any rude behaviour -- none whatsoever.

"People have such low expectations of our students -- that's why they act the way they act,'' she said. "It's time for us as adults to expect more things from our students, and if we do that, we'll get what we want.'' As well as improving students' test scores, Mrs. Ming's goal this year is to have much more contact with parents.

"We do have a PTA (Parent Teacher Association), but we didn't accomplish very much last year,'' she said. "This year, I'm hoping to accomplish all kinds of things if we get the parents out.'' She was "sick and tired'' of seeing only eight to ten parents attending PTA meetings.

The US Navy, which quit the Bermuda Base on September 1, left behind so much equipment that "the students will be exposed to a variety of different sports that they've never had before'' -- including floor hockey, tennis, and lacrosse, Mrs. Ming promised.

A NEW HOME -- St. George's Secondary School students are happy in their new home at the Roger B. Chaffee School in St. David's. Here, science teacher Ms Margo Green (left) and principal Mrs. Charlotte Ming pose in front of the school with some Fifth Year students.