Heads up: Top pupils’ principals hail overall exam results after tough year

The heads of the two schools that produced this year’s top 11-Plus exam performers – one public, one private – expressed pride Monday as their charges rose above the challenges of a past school year in crisis brought on by a pandemic,

Principal of St Stephen’s Primary Colin Cumberbatch said that while his school was proud of top boy Jeremiah Browne who scored 99 in English and 98 in Mathematics, he was also pleased by the entire class of 2021’s performance.

Crediting the school’s good results each year to a strong instructional programme, Cumberbatch said that was thanks to dedicated teachers and children interested in learning. He added that the outgoing Class four students were a cut above the rest.

Four pupils reached perfect scores in Mathematics and the school accounted for the top two boys in the exam, he told Barbados TODAY.

He said: “Even in the COVID environment I find that the children were eager and willing to be online at their classes and to participate. This set of children really performed and they were eager from way down in the school. But another key aspect to our programme here is that we have discontinued the use of textbooks and that allows us to focus more on what needs to be done in terms of content. We can prepare content that is directly suited to the needs of each child and that is working for us.”

Out of the 109 students who sat the examination, 19 won places at Queen’s College; 15 are headed to The Alexandra School; 14 are for Coleridge and Parry; nine are going to Combermere; five for The St Michael School; two are going to Foundation and one to The Lodge, Cumberbatch reported.

Kim Sommerville, Principal of St Angela’s, the infant and junior school of the Ursuline Convent, commended the exceptional performance of top student Elena Bohne whom she said has been consistent in her studies over the years. She told reporters that she was pleased with how well the school has done.

Sommerville said the performance would not have been possible without the teachers’ sterling commitment.

“Overall we are really excited at the success of our children,” she said.

(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)