(MHS) has once again proven its standing in Linden with the top ten students in this year’s Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Exams while the Wismar Christianburg Secondary School has recorded significant improvement.
The local education department will be working on a programme to improve performances in other secondary schools.
Region 10 has generally shown improvement this year in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) when compared to previous years. This year the region recorded 321 grade ones, 951 grade twos, 1,114 grade threes and 649 grade fours, a performance which Regional Education Officer Claude Johnson says has much more room for improvement.
Last year the region recorded 84.3% passes in grades one to four against 85.7% this year, while grade ones to three last year was 65.5% but moved up to 67.4% this year.
The top ten positions went to the MHS with Melecia Hossanah being the top student with 10 subjects, including 8 grade ones. The other nine top places went to Winette Smartt who passed 11 subjects with 7 grade ones, Keon Flemming 11 subjects with 7 grade ones, Toshanna Allicock 10 subjects with 7 grade ones, Ornise Gordons 11 subjects with 6 grade ones, Liza Johnson 10 subjects with 6 grade ones, Phylicia Gomes 9 subjects with 6 grade ones, Jo-Ann Claxton 8 subjects with 6 grade ones and Ruth Innis and Savita Kum who both got 11 subjects with 5 grade ones.
Evaluating the performance of the MHS over the past three years it has been noted that the school’s management, PTA and student body’s revised strategies and collaboration had resulted in noticeable improvements.
In 2008 MHS recorded 113 grade ones, 180 in 2009 and a creditable 217 grade ones this year.
“All told, there has been a marginal improvement but there is a lot more room for improvement and we have to work towards improving our weak areas,” Johnson said.
The subject areas which received good results this year were Agriculture Science, Building Technology, Clothing and Textile, Electronic Document Preparation Management (EDPM) and Physical Education.
According to Johnson there has been a noticeable improvement in the grade for English Language with a 56% pass rate as against 42.2% last year.
“Mathematics continues to be a struggle subject but we look forward to better results come next year,” the regional education officer added.
Meanwhile, the Wismar Christianburg Secondary School (WCSS) came in for commendation for being the most improved school at the CXC this year. Johnson said that the school’s performance is testimony that with strong management and discipline students will perform.
Head Teacher of the WCSS Cleveland Thomas said he was very elated by the performance of the students this year. “To God be the glory, great things he has done.” The school has moved from 63.2% in 2009 to 72.58% this year with grades one to three. Nine subjects gained 100% passes – Economics, Home Management, Food and Nutrition, Integrated Science, EDPM, Office Administration, Industrial Technology, Woods and Physical Education.
The school also saw great improvement in Mathematics, English Language, English Literature, Geography and History. All told, the school gained 55 grade ones, 230 grade twos and 286 grade threes.
The school’s top student Bevaughn Tyson gained 5 grade ones, 3 grade twos and 1 grade three. He was followed by Maxwell Piggot with 4 grade ones, 4 grade twos and 1 grade three.
“I would like to thank the staff, the teachers, the community, the education department, the PTA, as well as the students for coming together and working as a team so that the Christianburg Wismar Secondary School could have achieved these results,” Thomas stated. According to Thomas most teachers had students organized around a study time-table while some teachers conducted voluntary classes and these were two other factors that were responsible for the good results this year.
“We also have a thriving PTA and once the PTA is upbeat and the parents are onboard they would do their part from home with the students,” added Thomas.
According to the regional education officer the department will be paying keen attention to other secondary schools to improve their performances in the new school term.
He said further that a strong welfare progamme will be introduced at the Linden Foundation School and strengthened at the Wisburg Secondary School.
Johnson said that it has been observed that once teachers maximize classroom time, students would have less time to be idle and indisciplined.
He added that both teachers and parents need to show each other respect and this would improve the general level of discipline considerably.
“At the Linden Foundation we found that teachers are very tardy in attending class sessions and we intended to have a strong presence at that school to ensure that teachers do their job,” he said.
In Linden the Linden Foundation and Wisburg Secondary Schools have had a lot of cases of unruly behaviour, including violent gangs. Earlier this year a mentoring programme was started at Wisburg Secondary and it is expected to take full effect from the new school year. The programme will be extended to Linden Foundation Secondary in September and gradually to other schools.
Johnson said that he would be personally taking the Linden Foundation Secondary School in hand and he called on parents to do their part.
“Don’t just come to PTA meetings, come into the school on a regular basis and chat with the teachers, see how your child is performing and together we can make this school rise again.”
Linden is home to five secondary schools – Mackenzie High, New Silver City, Wismar Christianburg, Wisburg and Wisburg Annex Secondary Schools.
