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The atmosphere at St Paul’s Primary School in Brittons Cross Road, St Michael, was a mixture of excitement, relief and emotion on results day, as students and teachers celebrated placements and prepared for the transition to secondary school.

While the school did not repeat last year’s feat of producing the island’s top boy and girl performers, Senior Teacher Mark Clarke said there was still much to celebrate.

“From guarding and looking at results, you can say that the majority, if not most of the students, I located were very satisfied with the schools that they were given. More, I think, a percentage of them got their first choices,” he said.

For Clarke, the true measure of success was not rankings, but seeing students achieve the outcomes they had hoped for.

“I am satisfied but more importantly I’m happy for them. I guess we take joy from the work that we put in, but even more so we are happy when they perform the way that they wanted to. Our joy comes from the fact that they get results that they want.”

The day brought a range of emotions, with celebrations in some corners and disappointment in others.

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“There were tears, some of joy and some of sorrow, but at the end of the day I would just advise them and commend them as to get allocated. The journey now starts.

“It’s not the school that they’re allocated to but what they do when they get there. My message to them is to continue to focus, to strive hard, and you get in what you put in.”

As students prepare to begin secondary school in September, Clarke said St Paul’s has sought to equip them with more than academic knowledge:

“We teach them that your learning for life doesn’t only refer to the academics in terms of paperwork, but the values that they’re supposed to have, work ethic, the approach, how they react, how they respond and conduct themselves. 

“Remember they have to serve society. They have to become the next men and women of tomorrow. So we’re not only looking to garnish them with these skills in terms of their education, but also the values.”

He also encouraged parents to remain active participants in their children’s educational journey:

“This is another phase and they still have to continue to put their hands on deck. They still have to be relevant. We cannot live by ourselves as teachers. It is a community-minded thing where they have to form relationships with teachers, make sure that they’re well in tune to what’s going on in students’ academic and personal lives so that they can continue to guide and direct these students.”

This year’s Common Entrance cohort is among the last to experience the traditional examination before wider education reforms take effect, which include a two-year round of continuous assessment. But adapting to change is part of the profession, said the senior teacher.

“As with anything and as anything evolves, change has to come. We have to adapt and change whatever is placed before us. We have to put our hands to determining and making sure that the children are on top and that they’re armed with the correct tools that are needed to be sure that they do their best at it in whatever form that they’re in.”

(LE)