I-Secure Security Service, MOE Literacy Bee sees Ketley Primary emerging as Champions

The I-Secure Security Service/ MOE Literacy Bee Competition which culminated on Saturday at the National Cultural Centre saw Ketley Primary school emerging as the Champions. Angelina Deonarine and Antoine Henry of Ketley Primary in Georgetown outscored their competitors from Auchlyne Primary, Region Six and Patentia Primary, Region Three.

The Deonarine and Henry shared their exuberance and spoke of how they prepared for the competition. “On mornings I normally wake up, and my mother would ask me questions, and sometimes we would stay in school and our teachers would help us with some questions,” Henry revealed.

“When I go home my parents would ask me questions and yes, we stay back at school and also revise,” Deonarine added. Headmistress of the school, Nicola Austin Henry said that it was a holistic effort to help the children prepare for the competition.

“Children learn, they learn very quickly too, and they learn in different ways, so we would have used different strategies in order to prepare them, and assist them for this competition today,” the Headmistress explained.  “The initiative is a great one in that it would help them to see how they are excelling, as well as managing in gaining competency skills in the various aspects of literacy,” Austin Henry said in support of the competition.

Quincy Anderson of I-Secure Security Service, sponsor of the competition, disclosed that the quality of the competition speaks of the good work being done by the teachers, even when there was no face-to-face learning for an extended period. “This event …will become an annual event, and it should be looked forward to by each primary school because we are targeting the primary schools, so next year let’s hope to get a bigger event where we could integrate more schools probably touching the hinterland and so on,” Anderson added.

It was noted that the competition saw several preliminary rounds, which narrowed down the list of schools to Auchlyne Primary, Patentia Primary and Christiansburg Primary in Region Ten. However, Ketley Primary secured the highest points in last week’s preliminary round and were automatically placed in the finals.

Samantha Williams, Assistant Chief Education Officer, added that the competition supports the Education Ministry’s mandate of providing a platform for learners to showcase their talents and knowledge in areas such as Spelling, Comprehension, Vocabulary and General Knowledge.

The winning school received a prize of $100,000, while the two students who won received tablets, and trophies. Trophies and certificates of participation were given to the other participating schools.