PARENTS of students awaiting results for this year’s 11 Plus Examination are being urged not to put negative ideas in their children heads, about any particular school.
Principal of the Grantley Adams Memorial School, Dennis Browne, told The Barbados Advocate that the trend of some parents discouraging their children from attending particular secondary schools because of the negative publicity they may have achieved in the past, needs to be stopped.
He said there is good and bad at every school, noting that it is usually the parents pushing for their students not to attend, particularly, some of the newer secondary schools.
“Despite what you would hear from the public, it is not the children that don’t want to be here, it is the parents who are putting the negative in their heads. It is just that Barbadians have been groomed to only associate the older secondary schools with success.
“But the students need to come with an open mind and do their best at the school. No secondary school breeds children out of the walls, they come from communities,” he said.
“I went to school at Princess Margaret. The principal at Alexandra School [Orson Alleyne] went to school at Princess Margaret. The Principal at Queens College [Dr. David Browne] went to school at Parkinson.
“The Principal at Ellerslie [Major Errol Brathwaite] went to Parkinson. So the people out there know that it ain’t got anything to do with the school,” Browne added.
Browne said while Grantley Adams may have had its challenges in the past, as it relates to negative publicity, in his opinion, the school is on its way to becoming one of the leading newer secondary schools in the country.
He indicated that in reviewing the school’s curriculum and programmes, in addition to what is being done overall to ensure the school moves forward, it is clear that Grantley Adams is on a mission “to actually become one of the leading secondary schools in this country”.
“I am not bragging or boasting, but it is fact. Of course, you got one or two students who have issues, and it’s now clear through what would have happened at another secondary school recently, that students bring serious, social issues to our schools,” he said.
The Principal also alluded to the fact that the institution’s technical and vocational programmes have now moved progressively forward, to the extent “where we would soon be the first secondary school to offer a sixth form programme at CVQ (Caribbean Vocational Qualification) level”.
Browne also pointed out that in addition to that, the school would have had success in its sports programme, having won various titles in recent years.
“In addition to that, our CSEC (Caribbean Examinations Council) programme has been growing with the number of students being entered, and in addition, with the number of students who are leaving school with five or more CXC’s. So I mean we are on the path to success, and there is no stopping us,” he said. (AH)