The privately run Anglican primary school, St Cyprian’s Boys’, is celebrating an impressive performance in this year’s Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination (BSSEE), with student Kaden Ward securing joint second place islandwide and helping to end what Principal Dave Layne described as an outstanding year for the school.
Layne revealed that the school recorded an average of 80 per cent in English and 86.6 per cent in Mathematics among the 30 boys who sat the examination.
“The highest individual performance this year, our boy, Kaden Ward, who was second on the island, joint second with 244.8 A,” he said. “He scored 100 in math and 94 in English.”
Kaden Ward, top performer at Cyprian’s Boys’ School and joint second place islandwide in BSSEE. (Photo Credit: Lauryn Escamilla/Barbados TODAY)
The principal said the results reflected the hard work of both students and teachers, noting that 18 of the 30 students scored above 80 per cent in English, while 17 scored above 90 per cent in Mathematics. Eleven students achieved marks between 95 and 100 in Mathematics, including three perfect scores.
The school also secured placements at several of the island’s top secondary schools, including ten students heading to Harrison College and seven to The St Michael School.
“When I did the check, I had 22 of the 30 boys get in between their first two choices, and six between the third, and two got their fourth choice,” Layne said.
Among those celebrating was Ward, who described the achievement in simple terms.
“I feel great,” he said after learning he was the top performer at the school.
The 11-year-old will attend Harrison College in September, his first-choice school.
“Yeah, that was my first choice,” he said, explaining that he chose the school because “I really liked it when I went” on a tour there.
Ward credited discipline and sacrifice for his success.
“I made sacrifices and then I just focused and studied,” he said.
When asked what those sacrifices involved, he replied, “Not using my devices over the weekend.”
He also praised the support he received from his teachers throughout the preparation period.
“They gave me a lot of work to do and they supported me,” he said.
Layne said the examination results were only one part of a memorable year for the school, pointing to achievements in sports, the arts and other extracurricular activities.
“They’ve had an outstanding year and I want them to remember that these things come with hard work,” he said. “That is something that we will preach all day.”
As students prepare for the transition to secondary school, the principal urged them to carry forward the values instilled during their primary education.
“Being disciplined, being respectful, being hardworking,” he said. “These are things that you take all through life.”
He also encouraged parents to remain actively involved in their children’s development.
“Continue to remain invested and continue to encourage your boys to respect instructions, which then become rules, which then become laws,” he said.
This year’s examination cohort is among the final groups to sit the Common Entrance Examination before Barbados transitions to a new secondary school placement system. While acknowledging the upcoming changes, Layne said schools would adapt.
“We’re all starting on a level playing field. You have to play the hand that you’ve been dealt,” he said.
For now, however, the focus at St Cyprian’s Boys’ School remains on celebrating a successful group of students.
“We’re really happy for them,” Layne said. “It’s always our goal to nurture them and see them off to secondary school knowing that we’ve done the best we could and that they’re best prepared to succeed at the next stage.”
(LE)
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