THE One Mile Primary School in Linden has copped six of Region 10’s top 10 places at this year’s National Grade Six Assessments (NGSA), when the results were announced by the Ministry of Education on Thursday.

Top performer for the region is Shakina McGregor who obtained 521 marks, winning herself a place at Queen’s College. The overjoyed top achiever told this newspaper that she is extremely overwhelmed by her performance, and while the preparation process for the examination was hectic, it certainly paid off.

“I feel overwhelmed, I had to study late at nights, the studying wasn’t hard, but it paid off,” McGregor muttered behind her tears of joy. Her favourite subject was Social Studies. Her father, Quincy McGregor, also expressed his excitement over his daughter’s success. He said he was feeling very nervous with the rumours and expectations, but knew that his baby girl would have excelled because she was always the top performer in her class. The little McGregor encouraged the upcoming NGSA students to study hard as she did.
The region’s second position was tied between One Mile Primary’s Somira Dainty and Watooka Day Primary’s Shakina London. They both achieved 519 marks and were awarded places at Queen’s College. Dainty said she feels very happy though her exceptional performance came as a surprise.

“I never would have thought I would have done so well at the exams, I never would have thought, me, as an individual, would have been able to work so hard to place second,” she said. She described the preparation process as a difficult one, with a lot of sleepless nights and extra lessons.

“I am looking forward to attending my school and I would like to thank my mother because she has been there with me through thick and thin, also my teachers and my brother for explaining the concepts I wasn’t too familiar with,” she said.

UNEXPECTED
Shakina London of Watooka Day Primary said she is feels amazingly excited about coping the second place in her region. It was another unexpected result for London, since she was previously home-schooled and only enrolled at Watooka Day during the 3rd term of Grade Five.

“It was hard, a lot of pressure, I felt like I couldn’t make it, I felt like giving up sometimes but to the end, it was worth it,” she said.

London expressed gratitude to her parents, teachers and everyone who would have pitched in to see her success. Her teacher, Rhonda Rose, posited that it is more than an honour to have prepared one of the top performers not only in the region, but the country. For the past 18 years, she would have taught at the Watooka Day Primary School and while the school has always excelled, the feeling of excitement and satisfaction is renewed every year. She attested that the success was only through collaborative efforts.
“We do not take individual credits, it is always a collaborative effort, nevertheless I am feeling wonderful, I had the support from Mr Nigel London, from my headteacher and fellow teachers and the child is a very dedicated worker, she is a very smart child so I am happy it all paid off,” she said.

Copping the fourth position in the region was Regma Primary’s Owen Hooper, who scored 518 marks and was also awarded a place at Queen’s College. Hooper told the Guyana Chronicle that he was very happy with his results, even though he expected to do a little bit better.

He expressed gratitude to his lessons teacher, Cheryl Wills, and advised upcoming NGSA students to study hard and be confident in themselves. The other top 10 performers for Region 10 are: Latanya Edwards of One Mile Primary with 516 marks and Zaria Jacobis of the same school who obtained 514 marks. They were both awarded places at Queen’s College. Gaining places at Bishops’ High with 513 marks were Oroyo Trotman, Zalika Dey and Anton Ward of One Mile Primary; Shinnia Flatts from Watooka Day; Seraiah Dorris Walker from Amelia’s Ward Primary; and Makayla Moseley from One Mile Primary who scored 512 marks.

CAREFUL PLANNING AND STRATEGISING
Headteacher of the One Mile Primary Alister Fraser, said the exceptional performance at the school was not out of regular programming but careful planning and strategising.
The teachers at the school would have come together and devised methods to effectively relay the curriculum concepts to the students. They would have initiated a task development session where teachers, though not teaching Grade Six but are strong in a particular area, were tasked with giving practical sessions to the teachers and students of the Grade Six classes.

“We looked at those teachers who were strong at composition, we used them across the school, who were strong at mathematics and used them across the school to deliver practical sessions for the other teachers to see and follow. They even went to the different classes and did some practical lessons with the children,” he explained.
The headteacher also commended all of the Grade Six classes and teachers Charlyn Duke Agard, Ferdinand McLoed, Rawl Ford and Sharon Murray.

“They would have worked beyond the call of duty and I am extremely grateful to God and the teachers and the rest of the staff in securing the children’s success,” he posited. One Mile Primary would have endured tremendous challenges in the past. After the school was burnt down in 2012 during the Linden struggle, for years the teachers and students were displaced at various locations.

After the rebuilding of the school, the teachers ensured that the performance of the school improved significantly over the last few years. Overall, the 2018 NGSA results would have seen a slight decrease in the number of students copping places at Queen’s College and in the country’s top one per cent.