After decades without any of its students placing at the country’s top secondary schools, St. Andrew’s Primary, located at Cove and John, East Coast Demerara, has bucked the trend.
Two of its students, Oneila Thomas (513 marks) and Shonelle Blackette (506 marks) have earned themselves spots at Queen’s College and St. Stanislaus, respectively, after writing the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).
According to their Head Teacher, Isabella Glasgow, the two students are of a batch of 19 children who wrote the exam at the school on July 4 and 5.
Glasgow was elated and proud of the students. She said that it has been decades since students at the school had secured places at any of the top five high schools. “I am very elated because since I came to the school in 2011, I saw the children had potential and so I knew that with some extra work and dedication they were going to be able to reach the top and so that’s just what we did,” the proud head teacher said. She added, “We said a lot of prayers and we had our parents supporting us 100 per cent.”
Thomas, who spoke to this newspaper via phone moments after her graduation ceremony, said that she was very happy. “I am overjoyed and I just can’t believe that I got Queen’s College. I expected to do well but not so well,” she said. Thomas, who hopes to become a teacher, said that she was hoping to secure a place at one of the five top schools.
Her mother told Stabroek News that Thomas always had grades within the 90 per cent range. She also said that the school started preparing the students for the assessment from Grade Four. “We are excited but she is a child [who] ever since from small she used to work independently,” Thomas’ mother said. She added that Thomas hasn’t faced many challenges with her education. Further, the happy mother said that the teachers worked very hard with the children. She said that St. Andrew’s Primary was the only government school on the East Coast that had four teachers teaching all classes from Grade Four. She said that the school set a foundation for the students to excel. She also said that at Ann’s Grove, where they live, had frequent blackouts and that she had to rely on data plans for Thomas to access her virtual classes.
The NGSA results were released on October 15, with Nirvana Wimal, of the Success Elementary School, being the top performer with 524 marks.
