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Historic Grade one and two passes cause celebrations at Vryman’s Erven Secondary
By Leon Suseran
Two students of the Vryman’s Erven Secondary School (VESS) in New Amsterdam recently gained numerous passes in Grades One and Two at the last CSEC Exams, taking the school to levels it never enjoyed over the past years.
It was great news for the teachers and students of the school. Grade One passes have been extremely rare. Even Grade Two passes have been rare. However Collis Griffith and Shabina Bakker have done this junior secondary school very proud. And they seized every opportunity to boast about their achievements.
Teachers and the successful students share this proud photographic moment
Griffith, a resident of Angoy’s Avenue, wrote eight subjects and gained two Grade One passes (in Social Studies and Office Administration), two Grade Twos (in Integrated Science and English A) and 3 Grade Threes! It was the first time in a very, very long time that the school had such results. Grades Five and Six were the norm, for much, if not all of the students.
The young lady stated that “at times it was very difficult and she became frustrated because from time, to time, things in the syllabus… I didn’t have the chance to do at school.”
When asked if she needed to attend extra lessons, the aspiring nurse stated that she did. Her plans for the future includes going back to school and re- writing a few subjects to get better grades after which she plans to enroll at the N/A School of Nursing. Her advice to students writing next year’s exams is, “to give it their best; study hard; break a leg; as they say, your aptitude determines your altitude and must be confident; but don’t be too over confident.”
“It all depends on how the students apply themselves, because teachers here really try hard with us.” She thanked her teachers, especially Ms. Shepherd, Ms. Best and Ms. Bess, as well as her special friends “who encouraged me a lot.”
Meanwhile, the other student, Shabina Bakker, of Betsy Ground, East Canje wrote eight subjects and got Six Grade Threes, One Grade Two and One Grade Four. She plans to go back to school and study for the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exams (CAPE). She thanked her teachers, friends and family for her success and had similar advice for the upcoming batch of SCEC Students.
Ms. Bernadette Shepherd, Head of Department of English at the schools, while she lauded the students’ successes noted that punctuality and attendance issues were prevalent with the students, “and when they do not come to school, it just creates a lot of difficulties because you know, we have to build on prerequisite knowledge and when they don’t come, there is a gap.”
Another successful teacher, Ms. Tonya Best, was elated that after many years, the school finally secured a Grade 2 in English B. English B proved to be a real challenge over the years at the school because of the reading levels of the children.
Best stated that the students were very dedicated “and I encouraged them that they must work really hard. Collis is a very, very dedicated student and she would come to me for help with Social Studies and I would help her.”
Ms. Jemima Best stated that it feels great “because this is our first Grade One in Office Administration (OA) and I am very proud of Collis.” She stated that one major challenge was the time to cover the syllabus. Extra lessons were mandatory to supplement what went on in the classroom. It was the only way, she added, that the work could have been completed.
Marlon Daniels, Head of Department of Business, was very proud and shared his sentiments. He noted that Griffith achieved the first ever Grade One in OA “and apart from that, we achieved 66 per cent passes in the Business Subjects and in OA achieved 80 per cent passes…We also have a few passes in the Principles of Accounts, so I think we did well despite the challenges the students went through and in 2014, we are looking forward to doing better.”
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