On Friday we told you about the PSE results and spoke to two of the top finishers in this year's test. And in reviewing that list, we couldn't help but notice that four of the finishers with the highest scores came from St. Andrews Anglican School in Cayo.
That's very impressive - and it's usually the kind of performance we hear about coming from private schools like Bernice Yorke, Hummingbird Elementary or Belize Elementary. But St. Andrews is a church - managed public school, so we visited today to find out what they're doing right to get out so many top finishers:
The Standard six classes at St. Andrews Anglican in San Ignacio have 59 students. From this pool of students, St. Andrews fielded two of the top three finishers and four of the top fourteen finishers in the PSE. How did they do it?
Their teacher and principal explained that there were challenging circumstances.
Joan Neal - Principal
"Two of them came from our school. One of them - Vincent Hulse and the second child came to us from Standard 1, not knowing a word of English. It's hard work and dedication, we pride ourselves in giving our children that one to one. I think that it is what it takes, reaching each child where they're at."
Eduardo Reyes - Teacher
"At this point I don't think we can express what we here at St. Andrews feel - we're ecstatic! Just to know that our children were in that position, not just one but four."
Daniel Ortiz
"Are they sur-passingly brilliant students or was this just a case of perfect preparation or a combination of two."
Eduardo Reyes
"I believe it's a combination of two - they are very talented and also we're looking at the quality of education that they have received for the past years. I believe that at each standard that they were going there was a lot of preparation being done and then I just basically worked with them for the past months and it led us to this point.'
Joan Neal
"One of them is a single parent home and the other child lives where there isn't any electricity so we're very proud of the achievement that he has done."
Daniel Ortiz
"How does one go from having such difficulties then to perform so excellently? That tells of perseverance and hard work."
Joan Neal
"The child from the single parent home - the mother really works hard and pushes him."
The students say they that their teachers and parents played a vital role:
Vincent Hulse- Tied for 2nd best score, PSE
"The teachers helped me, I'm not one of those persons that would study because I would listen in class because I remember most of the stuff. If I had trouble with one subject, maybe I would review a little but I didn't study that much."
Daniel Ortiz
"So how does your mom play into all of this?"
Vincent Hulse
"My mom is a teacher and my aunt is a teacher as well, so when I have projects to do they would help and when we have holidays here and my mom has school - then my mom would take me and I would learn when she's teaching her class."
Nelson Estevan - Tied for 2nd best score, PSE
"I studied hard - we had lots of homework everyday and our teachers pushed us. My parents and our classmates, we helped each other. Our teacher placed us in groups and told us to ask each other questions that we didn't actually really understand."
Alain Morris - Tied for 6th best score, PSE
"Preparation for PSE starts from way back from Infant 1 and I studied really hard for this."
Daniel Ortiz
"Explain to us what you did."
Alain Morris
"I stayed up long nights studying and my parents and my teachers really supported me."
Daniel Ortiz
"How did the teachers play into that?"
Alain Morris
"The teachers here at St. Andrews teach very well and the topics that they mentioned, most of them were in the PSE so it was quite easy."
Zahara Zul- Tied for 6th best score, PSE
"I studied really hard with my parents pushing me and supporting me, it all helped me really good."
Daniel Ortiz
"How did the teachers play into this?"
Zahara Zul
"Well they were really supportive and they used to make us stay back and they did extra work with us and that was really a big help."
Daniel Ortiz
"How have you performed throughout your primary school career? Have you always been a top performer?"
Zahara Zul
"Yes!"
And so how does it feel for St Andrews to have the bragging rights this year - when that is usually reserved for private schools?
Joan Neal
"I never underestimated them, I knew their potential and what they could achieve but I didn't really expect it to be this level."
St. Andrews has 421 students and has been around for 80 years.
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