By Damion Mitchell, Staff ReporterTHE TRENCH Town Primary School in South St. Andrew has persevered against repeated incidents of violence in the community to record an improvement in the 2003/04 Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), over last year.
However, the Jones Town Primary School situated in the same constituency has reported a decline in its performance, attaining only a 'fair' grade.
"Our strides have been increasing and our grades have been getting better," Merline Sewell-Sutherland, principal of the Trench Town Primary School, told The Gleaner on Tuesday.
At the same time she said the school has managed to increase its overall literacy rate to 45 per cent 10 per cent more than it had targeted for this year with plans to further improve to 50 per cent for the next school year.
Mrs. Sewell-Sutherland said that a majority of the 25 students sitting the GSAT scored between 70 and 82 per cent in mathematics, science, social studies, language arts and communications task, a feat which represents long hours of hard work by the teachers at the school.
SEVERAL VIOLENT FLARE-UPS
During the current academic year, there were several violent flare-ups in South St. Andrew, forcing the closure of schools, which according to Mrs. Sewell-Sutherland, had affected the performance of students.
Vivie Mothersill, a grade one teacher at Trench Town Primary, is also a trained guidance counsellor. "The biggest problem is fear," she said. "The students will come to you and they will tell you that they did not want to come to school because gunshots were firing the night before."
In the 1970s enrolment at the Trench Town Primary School was just over 2,500 students with 70 teachers but this had dwindled to 150 students in 2001. The current student population is 233.
In the meantime, the Jones Town Primary School said it will continue to work at improving student performance despite the gripping challenge of crime in the community.
"The violence has been affecting us dramatically," said Principal Majorie Hutchinson. But she said the school has been intensifying its guidance and counselling programmes to assist students. She also noted that there was need for greater support from some parents in order to enhance the efforts of the school.
Ms. Hutchinson said that of the 84 students who entered the GSAT this year, top boy Rico Matthews averaged just over 70 per cent while Yanique, the top female student, attained an 80 per cent average.
