MP tells 11‑Plus students to think past school labels

Minister of Transport and Works and Member of Parliament for St Michael South, Kirk Humphrey, has encouraged students who recently sat the 11-Plus examination to focus on their character, values and determination rather than the school to which they have been assigned.

Humphrey made the remarks during a back-to-school presentation at the Graydon Sealy Secondary School on Saturday, where nearly 40 children from the constituency received school supplies ahead of the start of the new academic year.

He congratulated the students on reaching an important milestone in their educational journey.

“The school does not determine your future,” Humphrey said. “Where you’re born doesn’t determine your future. There are good people everywhere, no matter where you live, no matter where you come from.”

He told the gathering that while the donated supplies would help students prepare for the new school year, personal development remained far more important.

“What’s in the bag is not always important; it is what is in the children’s head and in their heart and in their character. That is what’s important,” he said.

Humphrey added that meaningful engagement with young people was a key reason behind the annual initiative.

“For me, the conversations that we have with the children are even more important than what we present at the end of the day,” he said, noting that the programme was not designed to reward only those who achieved top examination results or secured places at schools traditionally viewed as being the “best”.

“Any school in Barbados is a good school,” he said.

The St Michael South representative also used the occasion to signal a renewed push for community-based programmes within the constituency.