Moving on with confidence

Students who have sat this year’s Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination commonly referred to as the Common Entrance, have been encouraged to step into their purpose when they attend their new secondary school.

This advice came from the Director of Camp Transition Margaret Grant who addressed the students at the camp’s opening ceremony at The St Michael School, Martindale Road, on Monday.

“We have recognized that over the years, transition has been underestimated or rather the challenges thereof. As a guidance counsellor here at The St Michael’s School, I recognized that if we do not transition properly or smoothly, it can have an effect on your academic performance, your behaviour as well as your attitude,” Grant said.

The guidance counsellor told students that the camp will look at the major adjustments as they transition to secondary school life such as having a different teacher per subject as opposed to one teacher in the classroom.

“Skills are important and that is why we have Camp Transition so you can enter secondary school with purpose; you can enter secondary school with confidence. [The camp] will be looking at things such as moving on, how to say goodbye to your primary school emotionally as you have said it physically, how to cut those ties you have created. All of those are things we want you to recognize and appreciate,” Grant added.

Grant told students that they need to move away from the narrative of good schools and bad schools as they still have to put in the effort.

“No matter what school you go to, you have to work hard and it is ok to fail. If you fail once you will learn from that and move on,” she said.

Grant said there will be a simulation exercise on Wednesday August 14 2019 where the students would see firsthand what a day as a secondary school student is like. They will also get to hear Dwayne Archer’s story of how he persevered to become a Barbados Exhibition winner as he will present the featured address at the camp’s closing ceremony on Friday August 16 2019. (LG)