–Quite a feat indeed for Kuru Kururu Primary!

By Linda Rutherford

THEY’VE gotten top schools before, but not Queen’s College. And certainly not that many at one go.
Indeed, 10 passes at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) examinations, four of them for senior secondary schools, is quite a feat for Kuru Kururu Primary.
According to Deputy Head, Mr Burton Simon, “We’ve gotten senior secondary every year, but most of the time it’s just one.”
He’s only been there five years, but Mr Ian Cush, who doesn’t look a day over 35, has been around much longer, so he was able to corroborate what Mr Simon said. As a matter of fact, he’s been teaching Grade Six for going on 20 years now, including the class from which all 10 top performers came this year.
Asked how he did it, all he said was, “We just switched things around a bit; strategising I call it.” We let that suffice. He did say, however, that much as he was excited that the school did well, as was expected, he was somewhat surprised at the overall results.
As he hastened to explain, “I was expecting that they’d do well, of course, but in some senses, I’d expected even better from the entire class, because they were the cream of the crop. And that’s what surprised me…”

WORK EVEN HARDER
But that’s all water under the bridge now, as he has big plans for the new crop of children he’d be sending up to the examination come next year. “I plan to work even harder; I will also try to improve on my strategy,” Sir Cush said, adding:
“As a teacher, you tend to assess your strengths and weaknesses, so I plan to work on that, and have them do even more mental exercises.”
As to how the children themselves felt when they learnt the good news, REUBEN CUSH, who’s always wanted to go to QC and has finally gotten his heart’s desire, said his first reaction was to cry: “I was so overcome by emotion, I just broke down and cried,” he said. “Actually, it was tears of joy.”
Now, he’s all excited about the prospect of going to the school of his choice. “I’m looking forward to making new friends,” he said, adding that he’ll be joining his older brother, who attends St Rose’s, for the daily commute to and from the city. What’s more, his sister after him is so eaten up with jealousy, now she, too, wants to go to Queen’s.

HEART SPECIALIST
He’s particularly interested in going deeper into Biology, ‘cause he wants to be a doctor; a cardiologist to be precise. He knew what he wanted to become since in Grade 5, as he’d become fascinated with the heart from doing Integrated Science.
MILTON WILLIAMS, on the other hand, didn’t expect Bishops’; he thought he’d done just enough to get him into St Rose’s or St Joseph.
But according to Sir Cush, Milton has always had his sights set on going to Bishops’. The toughest subject for him was English, particularly Composition. His favourite, however, is Maths.
The eldest of three, he wants to become an inventor or a scientist. If he does become an inventor, however, it will have be something to do with outer space. He wouldn’t mind working with NASA, the US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or Arianespace for that matter.
He’s looking forward to getting into the science stream when he goes to Bishops’.

THE NEUROSURGEON
DAVID VICKERIE got St Stanislaus College, but it was somewhat of a disappointment for him. “I didn’t expect that,” he said. “I always wanted to go to Queen’s or Bishops’,” he said. He, too, cried when he learnt what school he’d gotten, but he’s now over it.
Like Reuben, he wants to become a doctor, but his preference is neurosurgery. And no, he didn’t come up with the idea from watching too much TV; it’s just that the brain just fascinates him. He’d come to the decision since he was in Grade 4; seems he caught the bug from his father, who, though an electrical engineer himself, is always going on and on about the fascinating life of a neurosurgeon.
And it’s not likely that he’ll have a change of heart later down the road; his mind is already made up. His favourite subject, by the way, is Maths.

UNDECIDED
CASSANDRA REBEIRO had badly wanted to go to Queen’s, but when she learnt she’d gotten a place at St Rose’s, she was over the moon.
“I was surprised, because I thought I’d gotten Diamond Secondary,” she said, adding that her father was just as ecstatic as she.
She’s not much of a talker, but she did open up enough to say she wants to become a doctor. She doesn’t know as yet what aspect of medicine she’ll gravitate to, but she’s already made up her mind that it’s medicine and nothing else.
SHUNICE PRICE got Diamond; it’s what she wanted. She’s always done well at Maths. She’s looking at a career in aviation; she rather fancies becoming a flight engineer. She knows what the job entails, and has made up her mind to work as hard as she can to get there.

A FIGHTER
It was fascinating talking to AJALA MURRAY. He, too, got Diamond, but from the look on his face, one could tell he’s not happy. Turns out he had his mind set on Queen’s.
But he’s not giving up; he still has an opportunity to make it, he said, and he’s made up his mind to work hard. He’s into neurosurgery. His favourite subjects are the sciences; Biology in particular.
KELMAN BAPTISTE wants to be an accountant. He wants to go into business someday, but he doesn’t know what as yet. He’s off to Diamond; he’s always wanted to go there, as it’s just as good a school as any other. In fact, it’s the best on the East Bank, he said. “I was kinda shocked when I learnt I’d gotten a place there, as I thought I’d gotten Friendship,” Kellman said.
ESRON JOSEPH got Diamond as well; it’s what he’d wanted all along. He found the exam deceptively tough, particularly the science. “It was tricky,” he said.
His favourite is Maths, and he did well at it. He wants to become a mechanical engineer; he likes to build things.
Kuru Kururu Primary is located in what is officially known as Newtown Settlement just off the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, some 24 miles south of the capital, Georgetown.
It was opened for school on January 7, 1974 with an enrollment of 100 pupils. At the last count in 2013, the school had some 761 children on roll.
Its present headmistress is Mrs Linda Paul.