CedarBridge Academy will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend.

The fair will include games and lots of participation by CedarBridge students from the fine arts department.

There will be a cabaret scene, singing, dancing and one scene from the CedarBridge fashion show held last week. The Warwick Majorettes will be participating, along with CedarBridge Academy's own gombey troupe.

It will be from 1 to 10 p.m. on the Northside of CedarBridge. It is being spearheaded by the Parent Teacher Student Association.

Rosemary Matthews, deputy head of years S1 and S3 told The Royal Gazette she had seen the school go from strength to strength.

"The fair will be the final phase of our celebrations," said Ms Matthews.

Earlier in the year, CedarBridge threw a gala banquet to honour Dr. Marion Robinson.

"She was the Permanent Secretary of Education when CedarBridge Academy was opened," said Ms Matthews.

"We have to give back flowers while people are still alive. She is an educator who is still active in the life of CedarBridge Academy."

Dr. Robinson still volunteers at CedarBridge Academy as a GCSE tutor. "She comes in four times a week to assist," said Ms Matthews. "So she still has her finger on the pulse."

Ms Matthews said CedarBridge Academy first opened its doors in 1998 to over 1,000 students with a wide range of abilities and backgrounds.

"I would say there have been challenges, particularly in the first five or six years," said Ms Matthews.

She said at first, students didn't have a sense of school identity.

"We were still struggling with grading issues," she said. "There were kids who had dropped out of school and were trying to come back in. We were dealing with children who still felt their allegiance was to their former high school. We have gone beyond that now."

She said one of the highlights of the last 10 years was getting accredited last April through an accreditation organisation in New England.

Ms Matthews said goals for the future included improved literacy and increasing the percentage of students graduating.

There is now an after school SAT (an American standardised test) programme offered, all students take the PSAT in S3 and all students take the reading exam Gates-McGinite.

"This has been done so we know the children's reading levels and can implement teaching strategies to help them," said Ms Matthews. "These goals are targetted towards 2014," said Ms Matthews. "Action steps are in place to bring these into fruition." And she said CedarBridge Academy students are now receiving places at top universities in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. "Our head girl has received acceptance into three top universities," said Ms Matthews. And CedarBridge Academy students are beginning to come back to the school as teachers. "Our first teacher to come back was Renee Kuchler, our Media Communications Teacher," said Ms Matthews. "She joined her staff in January having just graduated from Brock University. She can show the students that she has done it. 'I have done it and I am a success story'. That is a fantastic motivational." And the speaker at the 10th CedarBridge Academy graduation will be CedarBridge Academy's first medical doctor Khayjuan Brown who is currently finishing up in Grenada.