San Pedro RC School made it to the top ten in the Belize National Primary School Examination PSE once again. SPRCS student, Taniari Arana placed 6th overall in the country, with a score of 382 out of 400, or 95.5 percentile. A total of 6,983 students sat the PSE this year from the registered 7135, a 2.4% increase in the number of test candidates registered over 2011.
In a press release by the Ministry of Education, this year’s performance is said to have been noticeably higher than in previous years with the strengths being Science and Social Studies with average score being A (80-100%). Math appeared to have been the hardest with the average score being a D (50-59%) while the average score in the English is C (60-69%).
The PSE marks the end of the students’ tenure at primary school institutions across the country and is used as a base for many schools when considering acceptance and placing of students into the secondary institutions. The PSE assesses achievement of curriculum content and skills in the four (4) areas of English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science of the National Primary School Curriculum. The examination is criterion-referenced meaning that performance of “each individual is compared with a preset standard for acceptable achievement…The performance of other examinees is irrelevant.” In this way, the examination seeks not to rank students in comparison to other students but to report what each student has achieved for individual skills. This is expressed as a percentage score. The results of the examination are intended to be used for two main purposes:
1. Certification of Students at the completion of primary school in four content areas of the primary curriculum; and
2. Educational decision-making to inform policy, planning and practice at national, district, school and classroom levels.
The San Pedro Sun was present as Principal Roxani Kay called Tanairi and mother Celeda Arana to present the news of Tanairi’s excellent performance in the PSE. Speaking of her scores, a very excited Tanairi stated, “I am very surprised. I still can’t believe it. The hardest subject for me was social studies. Couple questions made me have to think and u know your teachers can’t teach you everything. The easiest had to be Science because I prepared a lot for that. The language arts section, the writing and the grammar, those were very easy. I want to say thanks to my teachers for preparing us, that’s the reason why I saw it so easy. That’s the reason why most of my classmates saw it so easy, so thanks to the teachers who prepared us through the years.” Tanairi hopes to attend high school in Corozal. “I was thinking about maybe going to Corozal. Half of my family is from there and I heard about the school and saw that most of the kids from RC that graduate, they rarely come to school here. I heard that the school is really good – they’re advanced and they have a lot of things to do and I think I would like to go there.”
At the SPRCS, there is much to celebrate, and according to Mrs. Roxani Kay, everyone is very excited “happy and very proud [of all the students]” especially Tanairi. “I am so excited for Tanairi, for the school, for the teachers, for all of us here and for our island. We topped again; one more time, we did it. For the ones that will be taking the PSE next year, I encourage them: set your goals, work hard for what you want, don’t let anyone or anything get in your way. Everybody can accomplish their dreams so they just have to go and work for it.” Of the 55 students that sat the PSE from SPRCS, all 55 passed, with scores ranging from 61 – 95.5. Rounding off the top three students on the Island are, Yasir Roberts with a score of (368 – 92%) and Jerdon F Anderson with a score of (367 – 91.75%), both from the San Pedro RC School.
