It was graduation time for the Home School of Education that has been operating for the past decade at the Pembroke Community Club's northern annex. The class was relatively small, six in number. But the enthusiasm of the graduates and their parents, guardians and friends was manifestly huge.

Mrs. Norma-Anne Smith, BSc, MA, came out of the public school system to open the home school in September 2001. It is affiliated with the Lighthouse Christian Academy based in Tennessee.

Mrs. Smith said: "Although the programme is designed for individual learning, students benefit from the small size and the one-on-one instruction."

Scores of students graduating from the home school have furthered their studies at the Bermuda College and institutions overseas, qualifying in nursing, air-conditioning and refrigeration and diagnostic imaging, to mention a few, added Mrs. Smith (who is pictured with the six students).

All six of this year's class have been accepted into colleges, four going to Bermuda College and two overseas.

Angelo DeMello, the class valedictorian, will attend University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth to study business administration and history while Destiny Black will attend the University of America studying dermatology.

At Bermuda College, Kennysha Simons will study nursing, Justine Dzofono Burch, computer literacy, and Joshua Emery, motor mechanics, while Jalesa Young with pursue business studies and culinary arts at the College, and also has been accepted to tour with Up With People in July.