‘We’re just hoping for the best’

Still grappling with the physical and psychological toll of Hurricane Mellissa, schools across the worst-affected parishes are racing to ready grade-six students for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams, now just days away.

“They (the students) will share cases of houses falling on them, near-miss cases of almost drowning, and all types of issues. And it is clear to us that these experiences, you know, would have long-lasting effects on these children. We’re still having children who seem spaced out in class. Totally spaced out in class,” Megan Berry-Scott, principal of the Westmoreland-based Savanna-la-Mar Primary School, told The Gleaner on Monday.

With assistance from the Ministry of Education, she said the school has been hosting increased psychosocial sessions to offer mental support to the students.

In addition, extended classes are being offered to the approximately 210 students who will be sitting PEP at the grade-six level on April 29 and 30.

Berry Scott said there has also been renewed focus on individualised attention and parental consultation for her students to make up for learning loss.

“Although we would have done those things, you find that we have to be doing a little bit more during this period,” she said.

Simone Doctor, principal of Holland Primary School in St Elizabeth, has expanded learning for her students, hosting after-school and weekend classes.

Over the recent holidays, she joined other schools such as the Falmouth Primary School in Trelawny in taking part in a Ministry of Education Boot Camp for PEP students.

“A lot of work has been going on, so we’re just hoping for the best,” she told The Gleaner.

DISPLACEMENT CONTINUES

She said students returned to school two months after the Category 5 storm wrecked the island’s southwestern parishes. Her students’ families, she said, are still recovering from the damage caused.

“We have [displaced] students who are still living with [other] relatives, and so forth. Some homes have not been repaired yet, but they are happy to be at school. And, you know, we are doing our best, and they are also doing their best,” she said.

Doctor, who stated that 36 students from her school are registered to sit PEP at the grade-six level, lauded the ministry for its decision to adjust the format of the test.

In January, acting Chief Education Officer Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle announced changes to the PEP exams, Jamaica’s national assessment for grade-six students that evaluates academic readiness and critical thinking for secondary placement.

Students at the grade-six level will now only do ability tests, 40 multiple-choice questions for the mathematics curriculum-based test, and 60 multiple-choice questions in the language arts curriculum-based test.

Social studies and integrated sciences subjects have been omitted.

At the grade-five level, students will do the mathematics and language arts performance task, which will comprise four to six open-ended questions each.

Students at the grade-four level will do the literacy and numeracy test, comprising 30 multiple-choice questions.

Students at grade five will do their exam on June 10, while grade-four students will sit their exam on June 24.

The placement mechanism for PEP students will remain the same.

Principal of Falmouth Primary, Kirk Spencer, also believed the change will help students perform better.

“That itself should put us in a good status going in,” he told The Gleaner.

In addition to extending learning time, he noted that the school has introduced practice tests and online classes, and has suspended the rotation of students between classrooms, having teachers move instead, to help recover lost instructional hours when students were unable to be in school.

Savanna-la-Mar Primary’s Berry Scott also believes the change in exam format will improve student performance, particularly at her shift school, where limited instructional time and the continued use of tents for classes have posed added challenges.

“It is a case whereby we lost the roof totally from our grade five and grade six block, an area that we have also used for extended learning. Were talking about six, seven, eight rooms... . And then there’s one building that we lost altogether that normally holds a literacy and numeracy intervention programme. And of course, we got [general] roof damage,” she said.

REPAIRS YET TO BEGIN

She explained that although funding for renovations has been secured, work has not yet begun because the school operates on a shift system, leaving no downtime to carry out construction without disrupting classes.

Work to replace a number of roofs and buildings that were damaged at the Falmouth Primary School are ongoing, Spencer disclosed. He, however, noted that material shortages have been slowing down the process.

Regardless of these issues, he expressed confidence in the ability of approximately 50 students who will be sitting the April exams to do well.

“They are feeling well,” he said. “The mood has returned to normal.”

Venesha Brown-Gordon, principal of Salt Marsh Primary and Infant School in Trelawny, said preparation for the exams have been challenging, especially as her grade-six students are having classes under a tent, as the roof on the school’s main building which houses their classroom has been destroyed.

Further, she is also worried about the month of learning loss that the students have endured.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge for our students because they loss time. We tried to increase the past-papers preparation, [and] we had Easter camp with them, but it might be a challenge, especially for our students who are performing below average, and average,” she said.

“Even though the ministry provided us with a modified objective cirriculum, it still is a bit challenging working with that loss.”

Additionally, Brown-Gordon said some students will have to miss school on the day of the exam, as the area where they currently have class is the designated exam centre.

Despite this, she is trying to be optimistic.

“Our teachers are working together, and I do fit in where I can to lend my assistance,” she said.

Twenty-two students will be sitting the exams from her school.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com