Improvements being made at Princess Margaret

Students enrolled at the Princess Margaret Secondary School are committed to working hard to achieve success.

So says Principal Jonathan Corbin, as he delivered the Principal’s Report at the recently held Speech Day. Corbin spoke to this as he referred to the students’ performance in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations in various disciplines offered by the Caribbean Examination Council. He provided details on all the subjects, while noting there were exceptional performances in Mathematics, Fine Arts, Office Administration, Information Technology (IT) and Technical Drawing among other subjects.

“The overall picture with respect to CXC examinations was that 132 students sat one or more subjects. Out of the 320 examinations taken, there were ten Grade 1 passes, 69 Grade 2 passes and 129 Grade 3 passes, for a pass rate of 65 per cent… Now these statistics might seem trivial to the uninformed persons not aware of the magnitude of the task faced by those in institutions such as this one. The truth is that our teachers work extremely hard, against almost insurmountable odds, to achieve such results. Our students too have to be extremely resolute and work tirelessly to overcome their deficits,” he said.

According to Corbin, in mathematics seven students were entered for the CSEC examination and five gained passes, with a pass rate of 71 per cent. While lauding the effort, the principal said that the Mathematics Department intends to do all within its power to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics at the schools and to aid in that effort. Corbin said the school needs at least two additional full-time teachers. This, he said would allow for smaller classes and a more effective teaching and learning environment.

In respect of English, the principal stated there was a notable improvement in passes gained with a 57 per cent pass rate in English Language at CXC General. Unfortunately, he said the only seven per cent of those writing the English Literature examination were successful. Meanwhile, he said that the Art Visual CSEC examination saw a total of 11 students entered and nine were
successful.

Corbin added that CSEC passes in respect of Business Studies were to be commended. According to him, 85 per cent of those entered for Office Administration were successful; 75 per cent of those entered for Principles of Business, 60 per cent of those entered for Principles of Accounts, and there were 100 per cent passes for both IT and Electronic Document Preparation Management.

The principal added that similar passes were recorded in Mechanical Engineering and Building Technical Woods, while an 89 per cent pass rate was recorded for Technical Drawing. In respect of the Home Economics Department, Corbin indicated that of the 28 students entered for the CSEC examinations, 24 reaped success. Three of those students gained Grade 2 passes and 21 gained Grade 3 passes. He said the pass rates for Textiles, Clothing and Fashion; Family and Resource Management and Food Nutrition and Health were 83 per cent, 78 per cent and 92 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, he said the school recorded 64 per cent and 50 per cent pass rates in Social Studies and Caribbean History respectively. The latter, he said, is a great improvement over the 14 per cent recorded in the previous year.

He went on to note that the students have excelled in the area of physical education. He revealed that there were 100 per cent passes in the Physical Education examination again. He stated that the school had 13 Grade 1 passes; seven Grade 2 passes and three Grade 3 passes. (JRT)