At a time when there is much talk about private schools outperforming public schools in the 11-plus examination, Maureen Branch’s entire class at West Terrace Primary received outstanding results in this year’s examination.
And when contacted by Barbados TODAY following reports from several parents that Branch, who also taught one of the students who came in the top ten this year, has consistently been reaping good results over the years, the teacher of 44 years said that ensuring students are disciplined and happy is a must.
Speaking humbly about her success with her students, Branch, 61, said it is vital for teachers to have their class under control to set the tone for a beneficial learning environment. In fact, she shared that her student Tazara Griffith, who placed seventh overall in the examination in the nation this year, has been disciplined throughout her primary school journey.
In addition, 16 students who Branch taught the 11 Plus syllabus to between 2019 and 2020 will be attending Queen’s College; four will be going on to Combermere; another four to St Michael; four will be moving on to Foundation; one to Lodge; one to Alexandra; one to Coleridge and Parry, while one student will be starting secondary school at Lester Vaughn later this month.
The student in Branch’s class who received the least on the English paper got 81 per cent, while the lowest grade in Mathematics was 73 per cent. Two children received 100 in mathematics, while three got 99 per cent and another three received 98 per cent.
West Terrace teacher Maureen Branch (sitting centre at front) and her students who performed well in the 2020 11-Plus Common Entrance Examination.
“The students came into the class with varying marks; 40 per cent and 50 per cent to 80 per cent. So from early you set little goals to let them build confidence in themselves. A lot of students don’t have confidence, but once they realize that they can get something done, it makes it a whole lot easier.
“And the class was like a family, everybody knew each other’s strengths. If somebody got 70 per cent, they would get a big clap, but a boy would get 90 and the students would say ‘oh you can do better’, because they knew how strong each other was and they were able to ride on that. But I think most and foremost is that they set their goals,” she said.
Branch taught at the now defunct Erdiston Primary for over 30 years, before moving on to George Lamming for three years where she also produced good results, and then eventually moved on to West Terrace where she has been for almost ten years.
“It is about me making the work as easy as possible so that my students can understand. I cannot understand how at the end of a year, or the end of the primary school year you cannot add fractions, you can’t add decimals, it is like impossible.
“So it is just getting them to see how easy mathematics is and how much fun language is. And I find too when students learn all the subjects like the science and the social studies, and [you] let them learn little psalms and memory verses, and they did a lot of group projects this year… all of that helps with their comprehension skills,” she said.
“And then with the online learning, the children who were weak, their parents were able to help them out a lot. Online learning brought home to me who used to help each other in class and who were the stronger students, and that helped us to strengthen those student weaknesses,” Branch said.
The veteran educator said though school ended abruptly days before the island went into lockdown mode, she did what was necessary to ensure her students and their parents knew work still had to be done to prepare for the Common Entrance Examination.
“After school finished so abruptly, I let them come back to the school on Monday and I had given them a lot of sheets to work through [during] the two weeks and then we went online probably from like the second week. We were online even before school restarted.
“All of them came on except one boy who didn’t come too often, but he would submit his assignments. But my students were disciplined. Sometimes you would tell the same Tazara or Liam come to class at 11 a.m. and they would still turn up online at 9 o’clock just sitting there waiting for the start. They were really interested in work.”
Branch noted that the examination being held in early May could be stretched until the end of that month, giving students more time to prepare. She said this year, students benefited significantly from the examination being moved from May to July 14 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And while Branch has been hearing the national discussion about private school students outshining their public school counterparts, she stressed that with so much focus and emphasis on the top ten overall students, it is difficult to gauge how well other schools are doing.
She mentioned that there could be schools that performed as well as West Terrace.
“The general public wouldn’t know West Terrace doing well if Tazara had not got into the top ten. So unless your school makes it into that top ten, you really don’t know how well schools are doing. But you have to look at the background of private schools and the advantages of smaller classes and everything,” said the mother of three.
Branch said she was not at all surprised when Tazara was announced among the top ten because she is a very good student.
“Her comprehension is excellent. Her writing skills are extraordinary. She had a little difficulty in mathematics at first and she was getting like 89 and 91 per cent but she wanted to score higher and she worked on her mathematics and began to score higher. And she gets in excess of 98 in every single subject.”
After having such a rewarding and successful career as a teacher, she told Barbados TODAY that she is preparing to say goodbye to the teaching service within the next few years.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb
