Valedictorian, Darian Phillips (right) accepting his award from Member of Parliament for St. Joseph, Dale Marshall.
The performance of students of the St. Joseph Primary School in the 2017 Barbados Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (BSSEE) has been commended by that school’s Principal.
Addressing the graduation ceremony held at the Grantley Adams Memorial School, Principal, Evans Hinkson pointed out that the students’ performance in Mathematics surpassed the national mean by “9.03 percent”. He said “the national mean is 54.97 percent [and] our mean is 64.00 [percent].”
Meanwhile in English, Hinkson revealed that the school “fell short” by “just of a point” given that the national mean in this subject is 70.4 percent and St. Joseph Primary obtained 69.9 percent. He told the gathering that English will be one area where efforts will be made to put in “a bit of extra work at the school.”
Hinkson further said, “these statistics however represented a very good performance by the school and I wish to commend the parents, teachers, the students for a job well done. This performance should go a long way in inspiring those in Class 3 whose focus now is to surpass this effort of the Class 4.”
Turning his attention to offer words of encouragement to the 24 graduates, he urged them as they enter their new schools to always be themselves and to be brave and mentally strong. Hinkson also advised them to reach outside their comfort zone, not to be afraid of failure, not to stop learning, continue to obey the instructions of their parents and to get involved in a variety of extracurricular activities.
Additionally taking the time in her remarks to give advice to the Class 4s was feature speaker, Roshanna Trim. The former Prime Minister of the Barbados Youth Parliament reminded the graduates that their dreams can be achieved. She urged them not to let go of their dreams because someone said they couldn’t achieve them.