by Curlan Campbell, NOW Grenada
- School for Special Education to focus more on students’ literacy skills
- Jeremy Hankey first student to successfully pass CPEA exams while still attending the school
- Hankey will attend Presentation Brothers College in September
The Grenada School for Special Education is to focus more on improving students’ literacy and reading comprehension, since this method has resulted in Jeremy Hankey successfully passing the CPEA exams, scoring 383 points.
Former students have successfully sat the exams at other institutions, but Hankey became the first student to successfully passing the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) exams while still attending the School for Special Education, after the Ministry of Education lifted the age barrier for the CPEA exams.
Principal Patricia Williams-Prince said this decision by the ministry spells good news for the institution since students are no longer required to be reintegrated to another institution. “I must commend the Ministry of Education for lifting the age barrier on CPEA so when they did that we thought it was a great opportunity for us to expose our students, because in times past we would have worked with students to bring them up to a standard and they were reintegrated into regular primary school and sat the exams. Some have passed and went to secondary school.”
Williams-Prince says Hankey’s academic potential was further nurtured by placing heavy emphasis on his literacy and numeracy. “Jeremy is a brilliant student, he has other challenges like his motor development, but that should not hinder him from getting a secondary education because he is very informed on world events. We worked with him and brought him up to that level because in the regular schools sometimes they get lost, and all they may need is a little one-on-one with a teacher working with them. Whereas in the other schools the classes are bigger, so they will not get that type of attention.”
Going forward the school will intensify its efforts to improving students’ literacy skills. “Jeremy is good in language arts, and it showed up in his results, and as he said math is one of his weak points, but he is a very good reader, and that’s what we have realised, that children who are good readers tend to perform well. So, we are looking at as a school, on ways to further develop the children’s reading ability.”
Williams-Prince has called on the parents to continue with their support in ensuring that the academic programmes at the institution achieve its desired results. “I would especially like to thanks to Jeremy’s mom because she has been a great pillar of support. So, the parental support goes a long way in ensuring the success of children at school.”
In September, Hankey will be attending the Presentation Brothers College.
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