Letting off steam

THERE WAS CELEBRATION after celebration yesterday for hundreds of schoolchildren after they completed the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination.

From the north to the south, the pre-teens could be found letting off steam after the examination that will determine the secondary schools they will attend in September.

Many of them took to hotels, eateries and places of entertainment, including Divi Southwinds Beach Resort, Bubba’s Sports Club, The Boatyard, Cin Cin and Hilton Barbados.

At the Hilton, students from Trinity Academy, George Lamming Primary and Charles F. Broome Memorial were having a blast in the swimming pool. Others were selecting from a full buffet table, jumping in the bouncy tent or crowding the cotton candy machine operator to get their favourite flavour of the spun sugar.

Amid all of the excitement after what is popularly known as the Common Entrance or 11-Plus, one set of students was reminded that regardless of the schools they were allocated based on their marks, they were not failures.

Class 4 teacher at St Stephen’s Primary, Shane Griffith, gave his students the reminder just before they participated in activities at Divi Southwinds.

“The exam is just a stepping stone in your development. Sometimes the members of our society make you believe that if you don’t pass for Harrison College, Queen’s College or Combermere, that you are failures, but it doesn’t matter what school you attend. At the end of the day everyone sits the same CXC,” said the Alexandra old scholar. (SB)