BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - ONCE again, it has been a great term for the George Moody Stuart Primary School (GMSS), popularly known as ‘Factory School’, as the learning institution was declared winner of the Private School Zone of the Courts Reading Competition.
The competition was held on Wednesday (Oct. 3) at the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Primary School, where four other schools - Maurice Hillier Primary, Immaculate Conception Catholic School, Ross Preparatory School and host school SDA Primary - competed.
GMSS was represented by Alezea Burroughs of Grade Five, with Soleil Martin as the alternate, and she was said to have impressed the judges with her poignant pronunciations and excellent eloquence, helping her school to win with 283 points.
SDA placed second with 234 points.
“This is a very proud moment for us to have once again won the Private Schools Zone. This is further evidence of the hard work of our dedicated teachers and the high level of education that our students receive in all areas, including reading, which can often be overlooked as children progress through the school system,” said Elizabeth Condell, Principal of GMSS.
According to a press release, the students, aged eight-nine years, were first required to read a passage provided by the judges. They were then asked to read a second piece which was a news item extracted from the newspapers. The participants were not given the material to study beforehand.
Burroughs will now be representing her school in the national finals among the various Zone winners throughout the Federation on Wednesday (Oct. 10) at the Ocean Terrance Inn conference room beginning at 10: 00 a.m.
The National winner will then go on to Dominica to represent the Federation in the Courts OECS Reading Competition on October 25.
This is the fourth annual St. Kitts and Nevis Courts/OECS Reading Competition Finals which is in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Information.
Coordinator of the local Courts Reading Competition, Education Officer Debbie Isaac said the attractive reward packages offered by Courts for winners of the Regional Competition has raised the interest of students in becoming the overall regional winner.
The winner will receive EC$5 000, second place EC$3 000, third place EC$2 000 and fourth to sixth place EC$1 000. Each student will receive a laptop and their respective schools will be presented the equivalent monetary amount that they received.
