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The St Thomas Primary School Graduating Class 2005 |
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (July 6, 2005) Ms. Earlene Maynard Principal of the St. Thomas Primary School says her staff is concerned about students who have negative attitudes towards their school work and lack intrinsic motivation.
The comment came while she delivered the school report during the schools annual graduation and prize giving ceremony at the Jessups Church of God on Tuesday. The events theme was Learn Today, Earn Tomorrow .
Maynard urged parents to come to grasp with the reality that the world is changing and by extension Nevis and the need for them to pay greater attention to their childrens education.
Nevis is changing therefore more than ever their childrens education must be taken seriously and mediocre performances should not be acceptable. Neithertheless, besides these constraints our teachers have continued to work with amazing tenacity and deserve to be highly commended for a job well done, she said.
Principal Maynard noted that in keeping with the schools mission to the total development of the child, throughout the school year students were encouraged to participate in a variety of activities and they have recorded many successes.
Ms. Maynard congratulated the 25 graduating students, 22 of who will be entering forms 1A1 and 1A2 citing that the school had maintained a satisfactory standard of performance.
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| Ms. Earlene Maynard Principal of the St. Thomas Primary School. |
We have watched you grow and develop over the past years. We have also noted the varied talents and abilities that all of you possess. You are truly a remarkable set of students. You all have excelled academically, she said.
According to Ms. Maynard, Abaena Simon achieved the best Screening Test results for the class of 2005 with an overall average of 87 percent while she acknowledged excellent performances from Chelsea Isles, Shanice Amory and Tyler Smithen who got best results for the boys and registered an excellent Social Studies grade of 92 percent.
Principal Maynard lauded the students for their achievements and commended her staff who contributed to their overall education. She singled out Mrs. Norlene Smithen, the Grade six teacher, who deserves special commendation for ensuring that you were fine tuned for the final leg of your journey.
Notwithstanding, Ms. Maynard lamented that St. Thomas Primary was losing its best cricketers, performers, athletes and footballers and challenged the graduates to continue to pursue these fields of endeavours as they moved on to secondary school.
Meantime, keynote speaker Mr. Steve Manners a retired teacher who served at St. Thomas Primary School, urged the students to maintain a good educational focus and to use their graduation from primary into secondary school as another step in the never ending quest for excellence.
I want you therefore to reflect on these past seven years & a cursory glance back will convince you that your teachers have spared no effort in equipping you for the future. I suggest to you therefore, that you owe it to all your teachers, your parents, your community and to yourself to repay with rich dividends the great investment made in you by maintaining your educational focus, he said.
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| Mr. Steve Manners |
Mr. Manners also warned the students to resist temptations and distractions they will face once they begin attending secondary school in Charlestown.
I urge you to resist these temptations because they are not part of the mission. We want you instead to maintain your educational focus. What do I mean by maintaining your educational focus? I will not pretend for one minute that you all will become doctors, lawyers, teachers, bankers and the like. This is not the way of the world but whatever your calling, I urge you to approach it with zeal and single mindedness of purpose which will inevitably spell success.
Go to the library, read, use the internet, join a study group, join the Literary and Debating Society, find a mentor someone who can guide you along, ask about past students who are success stories in their various fields of endeavour. If you are athletic minded ask the athletic coaches about Tanika Liburd and Kevon Pierre, both of whom went on to Sixth Form College while pursuing athletic careers and now have the world at their feet. Seek out each and every opportunity to advance your lifes goal and please, find worthwhile role models in your community, Mr. Manners said.
Also present at the function was Deputy Governor General His Honour Mr. Eustace John, Principal Education Officer Mrs. Jennifer Hodge and Parliamentary Representative Honourable the Hon Mr. Joseph Parry.
