Where ‘failures’ flourish

Graduates turning the page at Edith Dalton James High School, an institution known for “working with the lowest performing students from PEP”, as acknowledged by principal Dr Orlando Worges, are contending that retention at the primary level should not readily replace the intervention structure operating across the island’s secondary schools.

“They shouldn’t be kept back,” said 19-year-old Justin Wallace, who graduated in 2024 as deputy head boy while establishing, in grade 11, the Male Empowerment Association to promote positive masculinity.

Now an intern at the Office of the Governor General Sir Patrick Allen, Wallace, an IBI Ambassador recognised by the Governor General’s Programme for Excellence for impacting “change in the community”, quietly but firmly asserts that “people peak at different timelines of their lives, and so it’s a case of really what you keep aspiring to be”.

His story is a trademark of transformation – a child who did not get the best of PEP scores. Swayed by distractions and peer pressure, he was a troublemaker on entering grade seven at Edith Dalton James, he says, “not attending classes, going late when I did, not doing any homework ... and bullying the other students”.

The change came in grade nine – a mother’s prayers answered as Stacey-An Richardson kept urging him to take school seriously. It was also his own soul-searching during the period of online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing intervention programmes that followed, as he kept telling himself that “this just could not continue”.

It was a period, particularly after the pandemic, that saw the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information establish the National School Learning and Intervention Programme (NSLIP) Framework in 2022, in response to the learning gaps and loss experienced by students as a result of disruption to the education system caused by the pandemic.

The intervention framework was underpinned by three tenets:

. Academic Learning and Holistic Development

. Capacity-Building

. Community/Parent Engagement (NSLIP Framework document, 2022).

At the regional level, these three tenets were operationalised through the implementation of targeted interventions. Two hundred and forty-eight schools – later reduced to 245 – previously rated by the National Education Inspectorate (NEI) as unsatisfactory or in need of immediate support, were identified as beneficiaries of interventions that included:

1. National Standards Curriculum monitoring for teaching, learning and assessment.

2. Administration of diagnostic tests at the school level to determine the tiers for targeted student support.

3. Implementation of the Specialist Model for intervention.

4. The Extra Lessons Programme and Summer School Programme.

5. Support for Early Childhood Institutions, as guided by the Early Childhood Commission’s Inspection Report.

A re-engineered Wallace emerged, thankful to teachers who helped steer the turnaround – eight CXC and eight CAPE examination passes (Units 1 and 2); membership of the Key Club, 4-H Club and Police Youth Club; a place on the school’s debating team; and the positions of deputy head boy and founder of the Male Empowerment Association while in grade 11.

After completing sixth-form studies at Calabar High School, he was placed on the principal’s Honour Roll in both grades 12 and 13 and was also a senior prefect and secretary of the Sixth Form Association.

With his sights set on becoming a diplomat, philanthropist and motivational speaker, he is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in international relations and criminology at The University of the West Indies.

Reaching out to Wallace at Edith Dalton James were a number of other students taken with his prowess. Among them was Saleem Bonnick, whom Wallace continued to encourage and who had been assessed as quite slow and placed in one of the specially designated classes.

Assessed as being particularly challenged in literacy, Bonnick was disappointed and even demotivated. But he asserts that it was more a case of anxiety than poor reading and comprehension skills.

“I was too concerned with failure, which I am always trying to avoid, and it made me quite nervous. I also could have been more focused at primary school.”

His mother, merchandising supervisor Shaline Taylor, was well aware of what was emotionally troubling her son. Not believing it was the end of the world, she put it behind her, recalling how struggling family members who had attended Edith Dalton James before, including cousin and attorney-at-law Kayan Swaby, had satisfactorily progressed and were doing quite well.

“The 360-degree turnaround came in grade seven, in the very second term with the help of a wonderful set of teachers, including form teacher Ms Treasure,” she said.

“They all took him as if he was their child and he never looked back – placing first in every form after that.”

“My teachers went above and beyond to explain the schoolwork,” Bonnick remarked.

“They made a difference.”

He is on his way to the Caribbean Maritime Institute for tertiary studies and reiterates that instead of being held back, what is required for secondary school students is closer monitoring at school and guidance at home.

Worges points out that many of the school’s top performers this year, graduating with up to six subjects, were among the lowest performers entering grade seven, reading below grade two.

“Many learners have been taught to interpret ‘passing for Edith’ as failure, creating defeat and reduced effort,” he said.

“The school’s role is to reshape mindsets and to teach skills not acquired in primary school, accelerating learning to prepare students for the same exams as their peers. With appropriate support and targeted interventions, learners can achieve strong outcomes and demonstrate significant value-added growth.”

Asked about the role of his school in his life, Wallace succinctly remarked: “I would describe it as a role of redirection… . I have been redirected by Edith Dalton James.”

See related story on Page A3