QC all set to reopen

With local secondary schools opening their doors yesterday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic reached our shores, all and sundry are cautiously feeling their way forward. With the institutions operational to allow for those who have not completed their Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) School-Based Assessments (SBA) and Internal Assessments for Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQ) to do so, students will be making their way to their respective schools for the first time since March.

Over at Queen’s College, there were no students on the compound, however, Principal Dr. David Browne was on-hand to speak to The Barbados Advocate. With the final touches for the protocols to be observed being put in place in the background, Dr. Browne explained that the timetable for SBAs had to be carefully planned and students were being spaced out to attend the facility in the coming days. “These are people who are doing the written part of finishing their SBAs. The other aspect of the SBAs are lab work and CVQs in the workshop. Those will be coming in different days and under a different regime. So our heaviest days will be Thursday this week, Friday and next week Monday.

Going on to mention that there were 66 students earmarked to come in for a Pure Math module test, Browne noted that they would be split up over two days and would be accommodated in the hall where desks were set for social distancing. He also added that classrooms close to the hall were also cleaned and prepared for catering to the needs of the students. “Our written exams will be covered over on the G Block. We already cleaned over there and took out the desks. Each classroom over there can only accommodate nine. The hall can accommodate over 77 but there are to be no more than 50 persons on the compound, so all the examinations can be done in the hall,” he said.

With the Class 4 students of primary schools set to return on June 15th, Dr. Browne said that his institution was also ready to tend to the demands of the July 14th Barbados Secondary Schools' Entrance Examination. “What I anticipate that our next heaviest day will be, and I can tell you now that we are prepared for it, is Common Entrance. So far, I know that 80 students from Eden Lodge will be coming. We normally accommodate Eden Lodge and West Terrace – I haven't heard anything about them – but when those 80 students come, we are going to put about 30 in the hall and we are going to put the others in the classrooms and we are going to have everything confined there.”

Adding that there were expected to also be CXC examinations on the day of the Common Entrance, Dr. Browne stated that they would be small examinations such as Spanish and Geography that could be adequately accommodated on the B Block with no need for students to cross paths. (MP)