Celebration, tears as students receive PEP results

It was a combination of celebration and tears of disappointment last Friday when students at Free Town Primary School went in one by one to their class teachers to find out their school placement as the first cohort to tackle the Primary Exit Profile (PEP).

Those who got their first or second choice came out all smiles, while others who passed for schools they had no desire to attend had to be consoled by their parents or friends.

But for one mother, Joycelin Bassier, and her daughter, Shannelle Aldma, it was total joy as they both embraced, crying freely.

"She got the school of her choice. She wanted to attend St Catherine High and she was placed there. I am so happy!" said Bassier.

Young Aldma could hardly speak through her tears as she said she was just happy.

Nickeshia Allen Israel, mother of Sydney Wilson who, come September, will be attending Clarendon College, said that she was "terrified" just before she got the results, as she knows these students were the 'guinea pigs' for the PEP.

She said her daughter went to school from Sunday to Sunday and with the placement, she is just satisfied and relieved.

Grade-six teacher Jacqueline Henry Hunter is now feeling completely satisfied, as she said the results are even better than she had imagined.

"They did exceptionally well. It is better than I thought; the sacrifice that we put out, it paid off. Oh God, I am overwhelmed with joy," were her emotional words.

Comparing last year's final sitting of the Grade Six Achievement Test to this the first PEP exam, Hunter said she cried.

"Last year I didn't cry; they did better than last year's group. I knew they were going to do well, but I did not expect they would do this well. I am overwhelmed, I cannot contain myself," she said.