Cumberland High’s principal expects sporting boost from Hydel merger

Carlon Pitt, principal of Cumberland High School, says the merger with Hydel School next month is expected to provide a significant boost to Cumberland’s sporting programmes.

Hydel has been one of the dominant schools at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Girls’ Athletics Championships in recent years, winning the title in 2023 and 2025 under head coach Corey Bennett.

The school also enjoyed success at Central Championships and Penn Relays. They have also done well in the ISSA/Manning Cup competition, reaching the quarterfinals last year.

The Government announced in January that Hydel would be merged with Cumberland because of challenges associated with Hydel’s current location and the underutilisation of Cumberland’s facilities.

Immediate impact

Pitt said the arrival of Hydel’s students and athletes could have an immediate impact on Cumberland’s sporting profile while also helping to strengthen the institution’s overall image.

“It will be a boost to any sports programme because you know the history of Hydel, and in the last years, if my memory serves me right, they were champions of the ISSA/Girls’ Championships twice in the last four years,” Pitt said.

“So coming to Cumberland will really be a boost for our programme, our image, and our rebranding. It is one of the strengths that the merger can certainly benefit from, and also, it is an area that can make a sudden impact, in a positive way, as far as the merger is concerned, providing that all these athletes come to Cumberland,” he said.

Pitt noted that Hydel’s students will become students of Cumberland as part of the merger although he acknowledged that individual students could still choose to transfer to other institutions.

“They will definitely come here because the merger now makes them students of Cumberland, and it is expected that they will turn up,” Pitt said. “But I am saying this against the background that they have choices, and students from time to time will transfer to various schools for various reasons.”

Comfort for incoming students

He stated that the school is committed to ensuring that the incoming students feel comfortable and have the necessary support to continue their sporting and academic development.

“We are doing everything from our end to ensure that we can cater to these students and we can create the atmosphere that is conducive to their future development,” he said.

Pitt also highlighted that he expects Hydel’s sporting success to have a positive influence on the school’s existing students and potentially attract other talented athletes from surrounding communities.

“We cannot discount the innate abilities of our students here because motivation and performance are inextricably linked,” Pitt said. “Through the motivation of these students and the success that Hydel would have had, it is going to impact the Cumberland students positively to participate.

“Students with other sporting abilities in and around other schools near Cumberland would probably want to make us the school of choice,” noted Pitt.