St Gabriel’s claims top boy, girl in Common Entrance

In a rare double triumph, the private St Gabriel’s School has secured both the top male and female positions in this year’s Common Entrance Examination, marking a historic first for the institution and underscoring its academic dominance.

The island’s top-performing boy was identified as Benjamin Enzo Luciene, whilst Xiomara Alexis Lascaris secured the title of top-performing girl. In a double victory for the prestigious St Gabriel’s School, both scholars have secured places at Harrison College, where they will begin their secondary education in September.

It was not immediately clear how the taxpayer-funded public schools fared in terms of the total number of placements and their distribution among the schools.

Minister of Education Transformation Chad Blackman praised the students for their exceptional academic performance and outlined the government’s ongoing commitment to comprehensive educational reform.

Speaking during the official announcement of the results, he extended his warmest congratulations to the stellar performers and to the wider student cohort across the nation.

Whilst celebrating the immediate academic triumphs, the education minister put the results in the context of the government’s proposed transition away from high-stakes testing. He noted that whilst the examination remains deeply woven into the island’s cultural fabric, a shift towards equity and comprehensive skill development is imperative for the future.

“First of all, indicate again that we are very mindful, as I said, that this examination throughout the years has been an important part of our national psyche in terms of education,” Blackman said.

“That’s why I’m so excited about the future of that transition is going to be one that is based on equity and is one that is based on ensuring that we tap into the broad skill sets that our children have, and therefore not focused on a one-shot exam.”

The atmosphere at St Gabriel’s was one of jubilation following the announcement, with cheers from students and parents echoing through the corridors. The principal of St Gabriel’s School, Alexina Chandler, revealed that the school had secured four students in the national top ten.

“We are so proud of them, over the moon,” Chandler remarked. “I mean, it’s not a total surprise because they’ve all worked very hard, but we’re very pleased, very pleased. We’ve had top students before, but not both. I’m not sure how many schools have had both, so that would be interesting to look into. I know they’ve worked extremely hard, and they’re focused children, lovely children. We also have two others in the top ten as well. I’m very proud of all of them.”

Reflecting on the methodology behind the school’s performance, Chandler explained that the academic foundation is established long before the final year of primary education. She said the modern pedagogical strategies currently being advocated by the Ministry of Education Transformation have long been ingrained in the school’s curriculum.

“The students work very hard, obviously the teachers as well, but it doesn’t just start in Class 4. It starts in the foundation years from nursery and reception onwards. We build that foundation. The ministry is talking about play-based learning; we already have that in place for many, many years, and then the children are to build on that. 

“Even in Class 4, they continue with the other subject areas, so we will have well-rounded, confident students. So, a lot of hard work from the students, the teachers, and the parents, their support as well.”

Addressing the ministry’s drive toward systemic reform, Chandler detailed how the school actively prepares students for the psychological and practical demands of examination conditions, whilst maintaining a focus on holistic development and soft skills.

“For instance, our Class 4s, they start learning how to take tests from Class 3 in particular—not just taking tests, but learning how to take tests, how to manage their time, if they’re stuck on a question, what do they do,” Chandler noted.

“So understanding how to apply knowledge, even the soft skills that the ministry is promoting, we definitely have those in place already. So it’s not just about mathematics and English for us; it is well-rounded students who, you know, [have] those soft skills … as well, project-based. We already have that going in our infant department. It’s now to extend more to the juniors in terms of what the ministry is looking at.”

As the successful candidates prepare to transition to secondary school, Chandler expressed confidence that their grounded education would serve them well in the next chapter of their lives, stating that the historic results reflect the institutional culture.

“It sums up what we try to do at St Gabriel’s in a lovely way. It is not a surprise, as I said, everyone worked really hard and was focused. And so this is not an anomaly. This is not by accident. This is part of what we do at St Gabriel’s.”

St Gabriel’s was founded in 1947 at the request of the then Anglican Bishop of Barbados, William James Hughes, and was initially administered and mainly staffed by Sisters of the Convent of Jesus the Good Shepherd from England. 

Opening with just 28 pupils aged four to eight, it later expanded to offer education from reception through to O-levels before the secondary section closed in 1977. After that, the school consolidated as a denominational Anglican primary institution under the Diocese of Barbados, maintaining a Christian ethos with multi-faith roll.

(RR)