Beach Allen wins Primary Schools Math Competition

By Joyette Mills-Ward
Business Reporter SKNVibes.com

Haniff Charles and Candice Green of Beach Allen Primary pose for our cameraperson after receiving the Champion Primary School’s trophy from National Bank’s Marketing Director Patricia Wilkinson [left]

The St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank Limited-sponsored competition was organised by the Rotary Club of St. Kitts and had seen Beach Allen emerging Champion Primary School, followed by Maurice Hillier Memorial and George Moody Primary Schools.

The champion school received a monetary prize of $2 000 while the First and Second Runners-up received $1 500 and $$1 000 respectively. Irishtown Primary, Montessori Academy and St. Theresa’s Convent Primary also participated at in last Friday’s Finals of the competition but, despite their valiant efforts, were unsuccessful in placing.  

Haniff Charles and Candice Green of Beach Allen Primary both got individual cash prizes of EC$200 for their outstanding performance throughout the competition.

All primary schools on St. Kitts had registered for the competition and over 626 pupils participated in the various rounds leading up to Friday’s Finals at the ECCB Headquarters. 

However, only the above mentioned six schools had qualified for the Finals in which each team comprised two Grade Six participants - one boy and one girl.

There was a ‘lightning’ round in the Finals, where participants of each contesting school was asked a series of questions in quick succession and had to provide the answers within a time. For additional clarity, the questions were displayed by projector/power-point onto a screen mounted between contesting schools so that students could also see them in black and white.

There was also a practical round. In this round pupilss were given materials such as tooth-picks, marshmallows and cake in order to assist them with answering questions. All questions were read aloud for their benefit by the moderator, Newrish Nital, an independent educator not affiliated with any competing school. ~~Adz:Right~~

The competition had all the excitement of a TV-game show and was so keenly contested that there was a tie for first position when the final scores were tabulated. Additionally, only two points separated the first and second placed schools, and further down the pecking-order was another tie between the schools that accumulated the smallest number of points.

Donald Thompson, Director of Audit at the SKNA National Bank, said he was pleased that the institution was able to lend financial support to the competition. He also expressed his pleasure at seeing the level of enthusiasm and interest demonstrated by pupils and teachers who participated in the competition.

He praised the Rotary Club of St. Kitts for their “foresight in organising the competition”, and further said that “through this contest we may very well be cultivating the next generation of mathematicians and scholars, and for this I highly commend you (Rotary Club of St. Kitts)”.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Sam Condor delivered the feature address in which he mentioned the excellent networking established by NGOs and service organisations such as the Rotary Club of St Kitts. He declared that the effectiveness of the Rotary Club was because of “its memberships’ clear understanding of the culture, tradition and nuances of the respective societal groupings, their responsive flexible and pragmatic approach.” 

“We believe, like our founding fathers or forebears did, that a well-rounded education is still key to our success as a people and the nation. Empowerment, creation and employability enhancement together is still the most sustainable way of spreading the wealth in our society if we are to scale the economic summit,” Condor said.

“For our nation, economic progress is but a means to an end! Our end objective is to see all of our people live a better life and enjoy a better future together at the top of the summit. In the scheme of things with fast moving technological advancement, to wit, a healthy understanding and grasp of mathematics is paramount,” he added.