Forty-nine students at the Sharon Primary School were encouraged to discover their treasure and enrich their world as the graduating class was toasted at its annual graduation ceremony at the Savannah Beach Hotel.
Principal of the Sharon Primary School Pamela Small-Williams told the gathering all 49 students who sat the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination had been awarded places to Government secondary schools. “The pupils’ scores ranged from 108.26 E to 235.20 A. An analysis of the examination results revealed [that] in Mathematics, 18 per cent of students received between 90 to 100 per cent; 33 per cent scored between 70 to 90 per cent and 16 per cent scored between 50 to 70 per cent. In the English paper, 84 per cent of students scored between 50 to 88 per cent. They did well,” she said.
Small-Williams singled out the performances of Nathan Reid who scored the top mark in Mathematics with 99 per cent and will be attending Queen’s College and Rakiah Calderon and Shakir Smith who scored the highest marks in English with 88 per cent and will be attending The St Michael School and Queen’s College, respectively.
The Principal also commended the graduands who would have given of their best in the BSSEE for a job well done.
“I also wish to congratulate every student who would have consistently given of his or her best throughout the seven years of primary school education [here]. Special mention must be made of those students who were experiencing some cognitive or social challenges but improved significantly and silenced the critics,” she said.
Featured speaker Margaret Thompson told the students they all have a unique gift they can share with the world but in order to find it, they must understand what gifts God has bestowed upon them.
“Self-awareness means that you are aware of what you are called to do, who God wants you to be and [has made] you to be, knowing what special gifts He has given to you. Graduands, do not let other people define you. Do not let the media and in particular, social media, define you – how you dress, how to make quick money and how to behave. Now that you are leaving Sharon Primary School to go on to secondary school, some will have to catch the bus and you will meet new friends and have new adventures. Amidst all of that, you have to realize that you are very young and impressionable.”
Thompson told the parents that they too have a part to play in their children’s academic development at their new secondary school. “Parents you need to help your children find themselves. Communicate with them, get to know them well, help them to answer easy questions – who am I? where am I going? what is my vision?” she said.
The students entertained the audience with song, dance and violin renditions to the delight of their parents who captured each moment of the bittersweet end of their primary school journey on their cell phones.
In the awards ceremony, Principal Small-Williams highlighted the performance of Omarian Applewhite who received the Principal’s Award for Success Against The Odds. She noted Applewhite was receiving below par marks in both English and Mathematics due to issues within his family life which were impeding his academic journey. However, due to an intervention by the school and a family member, the student will be attending the Coleridge and Parry Secondary School in September. He received 63 per cent in English Language and 77 per cent in Mathematics at the BSSEE.
Valedictorian andl Headboy Nathan Reid told parents that if their child did not receive marks to attend the secondary school they wanted, they should not discourage them. “Now parents, if your child was able to go to the school you desired, that is great. If they did not do as well as you thought they should, then they can be whatever they want to be once they love God, aim high and keep pure,” he said.
Reid told the graduates the hard work now begins as they will now have to concentrate on more subjects at their secondary school. “We have to do more subjects and more writing, but we have to stay focused and adapt to our new school. It does not make sense complaining, we just have to be prepared to work hard and try to have some fun by joining a club or some activity that we are interested in. You have all made it through primary school and you will make it through secondary school. You can determine what your journey at your new school will be. As Mr Alleyne would say, the ball is in your court,” he said. (LG)
