Early sitter Shiv braves loss of sister to 11-Plus triumph

While most students found the challenge of online learning during the pandemic daunting, early sitter in the Common Entrance Examination Shiv Sahadeo also had to cope with the loss of his algebra teacher – his sister.

The Ifill School pupil who turned 10 in May, heads to Harrison College, aced the Mathematics paper with a perfect 100 per cent score, 91 in English and an A in his essay.

Mum Trecia Philips said that Shiv’s sister, Tianah Phillips, a Coleridge and Parry alumna who was a Richard Stoute Teen Talent Contest vocalist, was also good at Mathematics.

Young Shiv already enjoys tackling Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Mathematics, he said, while crediting his late sibling for teaching him algebra before her death last year.

It was his decision to sit the 11-Plus exam early, he declared.

“I feel good because I got the school that I wanted to go to,” he told Barbados TODAY. “If I do work that I have already done before I get bored so I need work to challenge me so that I have something to keep up with.”

But Sahadeo said that although he believes the examination papers were easy, he did have to make sacrifices, spending less time playing games and more time in his books in the months leading up to the July sitting.

He added: “It was easy. I had no issues at all. I would like to thank my parents and all my teachers, especially [Principal] Mr Akil Ifill.”

The 10-year-old, who started preparing for Common Entrance at age nine said he thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

Sahadeo, who also plans to sit his CSEC examinations early aims to become a Barbados Scholar, he said.

Phillips said she and Shiv’s father Navindra Sahadeo said yes when Shiv told them he wanted to do the Common Entrance at an early age because they knew he had the potential to do well.

At one point, young Shiv was getting tired of doing over past papers and had to be encouraged to remain focused until examination day, she recalled.

She said: “He is a child that likes to be challenged and from a young child, even in nursery school, he was reading above average. He could have read really well and even when he went into reception, he could have read at the level of a Class 4 student so we knew that he was kind of special that way and he was gifted academically.

“So, we rallied behind him and just worked with him going through school, and we worked with all of his teachers and maintained a close relationship.”

While other parents complained about the difficulties they faced with online school, Phillips said he made up her mind early to tackle the challenge head-on and encouraged her child to do the same.

She explained: “He did lessons fully online and he did school for the most part fully online. It did not hinder him because I supported him as much as possible because this is what we had to work with and it didn’t make [any] sense complaining about it or stressing about it. So, I talked to the lesson’s teacher and I spoke to the school and we just rallied behind him.

“And with The Ifill’s online platform, especially in mathematics, you could have gone back on their portal. If I had to explain something to him in mathematics, we could have gone back to the portal and figured it out right there and then. Online school is what it is, I just rallied behind him and got him focused and committed.”

When contacted, Ifill said he was proud of his high-achieving student and ace cricketer who faced adversities to be able to do the examination.

The principal said: “It is not just about Shiv scoring 100 in maths or even the A in the essay. It is about a young man wanting something out of life. He wanted to go to Harrison College because he is also one of the best cricketers on the island and he wanted to show what he can do. And the thing is he turned 10 just two months before the Common Entrance Examination. I wish him every success and he is going to do well. He is one to watch for the future because he has what it takes to succeed.”

(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)