Four teachers from Cayman Brac's government schools received the Sister Islands' first Outstanding Teacher Awards at an invitation-only Teacher Appreciation Gala on the Brac on Saturday, 31 October, bringing Education Month 2026 to a close on the island where it opened four weeks earlier.

The recipients, named by the Ministry of Education and Training on 14 October, are Lori-Ann Bingham-Street of the Beacon Learning Centre, Natasha Hoisen of Creek and Spot Bay Primary School, Dionne Smith of Layman E. Scott Sr. High School and Miranda Gayle of West End Primary School. They are the Cayman Brac contingent of 17 government school teachers honoured this year in what the Ministry describes as the inaugural Outstanding Teacher Awards, with the other 13 recognised at a gala on Grand Cayman on 10 October.

The gala was held at the Aston Rutty Centre before approximately 75 educators and staff, the Ministry told The Caymanian Journal (TCJ) in a reply to questions emailed on 2 November. Communications Manager Stacey-Ann Anderson said the awards were presented by Dr. Richard Wildman, Deputy Director of the Department of Education Services (DES), Parliamentary Secretary Julie Hunter MP and Minister for Education and Training Rolston Anglin MP. Photographs from the night show the four recipients holding star-shaped awards alongside Ministry officials beneath the Ministry's banner.

Chosen by colleagues, confirmed by principals

The awards are new this year and the selection was made within the schools themselves. According to the Ministry, teachers were nominated by their colleagues and principals made the final choice at each school. No further criteria have been published, and the Ministry has not said how many nominations were received or whether every government school put forward a candidate. The 17 recipients come from 17 different schools and units, 13 on Grand Cayman and four on the Brac, so each school or unit named has a single honouree. The Ministry's Education Month calendar, issued through the Department of Education Services (DES) on 30 September, listed the Brac event as the "Teacher Appreciation Gala and Outstanding Teacher Awards Cayman Brac (invitation only)" for Saturday, 31 October, the last entry in a month-long programme run under the theme "Growing Minds, Transforming Lives". Both galas were invitation only, and the Ministry's account of the Grand Cayman evening carried no venue.

The Grand Cayman gala three weeks earlier, hosted by the Ministry and DES, brought together almost 500 public school educators and staff, according to the Ministry's 14 October release, which said educators in Cayman Brac would be recognised for their contributions at a separate ceremony. Chief Officer Cetonya Cacho, in her welcome remarks at that event, told the teachers that "an award is one way of recognising your excellence, but it is not the only way to measure it." Mr. Anglin MP told the same gathering: "No economy can develop to its maximum without good people." The Ministry's reply on the Brac gala confirmed the Minister's presence as a presenter but did not say whether Ms. Cacho attended.

Announcing the awards on 30 September, Mr. Anglin MP said: "I am the product of the Cayman Islands education system, so I know firsthand how much one good teacher can shape a student's future." He added that the awards "allow us to recognise some of our standout educators".

A month that began and ended on the Brac

Education Month 2026 opened on Sunday, 4 October with a church service at Stake Bay Baptist Church in Cayman Brac at 11 a.m., with the Ministry saying that "educators, parents, students and other community members are welcome to attend." World Teachers' Day followed on Monday, 5 October, when students across the government system were asked to thank a teacher with a kind word, a handwritten note or a small gesture of appreciation. Through the month the Ministry featured outstanding government school students on its social media channels, published a newspaper feature on honour graduates from the government high schools, and recognised around 50 people who had completed university degrees by September 2026 in a newspaper advertisement. Schools were encouraged to run their own activities and to share them online.

With the opening service on 4 October and the closing gala on 31 October both held on the Brac, the Sister Islands bookended the programme, and the Grand Cayman gala on 10 October sat between them.

Layman E. Scott's year of results

Saturday's gala came four weeks after Layman E. Scott Sr. High School, the Brac's only government secondary school, graduated 34 students at the Aston Rutty Centre on 3 October under the theme "Built by Challenges, Strengthened by Perseverance". According to the Ministry's account of the ceremony, 82% of the class achieved five or more Level 2 passes including mathematics and English, 76% graduated with honours and 41% with high honours.

Mr. Anglin MP addressed the graduates, as did Acting Principal Kevin Roberts, who told them: "I hope you will measure success by more than qualifications or career milestones." The keynote was given by Paul Tibbetts, Executive Vice President of Commercial Affairs and Chief Financial Officer of Cayman Airways and an alumnus of the school, who said: "In life, you will face headwinds. That does not mean your journey is over." Valedictorian Aryan Champawat, speaking by audio link from overseas, told the class that "what matters most is the path we choose and what we make out of it."

Ms. Smith, the school's award recipient, was not named in the Ministry's graduation release, and the Ministry has not published the citation for any of the four Brac honourees. TCJ asked the Ministry to pass on a request for the recipients' own reflections on the awards and for any remarks delivered at Saturday's gala, and none had been received by the time of publication.

The school is also awaiting a new building. In June 2025 Mr. Anglin MP, Ms. Cacho and DES Director Mark Ray were among a party of ministers and officials, including District Administration Minister Nikolas DaCosta MP, Infrastructure Minister Jay Ebanks MP, Deputy Chief Officer Jerome McCoy and Tammy Hopkins, the Brac-based Senior School Improvement Officer, who toured the construction site of the new Cayman Brac High School and walked through the existing Layman E. Scott campus, in what the Ministry said was a chance to see the project, begun under a previous administration, at first hand.

The Grand Cayman recipients

The 13 Grand Cayman honourees, named in the Ministry's 14 October release, were Susan Poy Fong-Ramkissoon (Behaviour Services Support Unit), Nadine Manning-Turner (Cayman Islands Further Education Centre), Kashena Powell-Bennett (Clifton Hunter High School), Thrica Brooks-Rookwood (East End Primary School), Danielle Troupe-Buchanan (Edna Moyle Primary School), Nickesha Watson (Joanna Clarke Primary School), Dorothy-Ann Chambers (John Gray High School), Carolyn Powell (Lighthouse School), Denise Brown-Hyatt (Marie Martin Primary School), Marcia Oxilly-Walker (Prospect Primary School), Marlene Samuels (Red Bay Primary School), Clayton Ingram (Sir John A. Cumber Primary School) and Nashanda Maitland-Ebanks (Theoline McCoy Primary School).

The Ministry has not said whether the awards, described in its own material as inaugural, will be repeated in 2027 or whether the Brac will again have its own ceremony.