Cul de Sac:--- The Management, teachers, and students of St. Maarten Academy are celebrating a strong finish to this school year as 94 percent of more than 400 first to fourth formers are being promoted.
For the first time in years, all 101 (100 percent) students of Form 2 will be promoted, with no one repeating or being transferred to the vocational section of the school. At the first form level, 95 out of 110 (86%) students will begin Second Form in the new academic year. Only 10 students, the lowest in years, have to repeat the level, and five will be transferred to the vocational section.
At the Form three level, where students are streamed into Business, Science and General in preparation for the regional Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) examinations that they take at Form 5, 102 (95%) of the 107 students were promoted; while at Form 4, 92 (96%) out of 96 students were promoted to their final year of compulsory education. The school’s senior students (Form 5 and both levels of Form 6 or CAPE) just completed the CXC examinations and are awaiting results, which will be released in August.
The school’s principal, Mrs. Kim Lucas-Felix, who has been on medical leave since January, attributed the success of the students to the hardworking teachers and counsellors in the Department of Student Care (DSC), who cooperated with the Management Team, which included Vice Principal, Ms. Joanna Trim; CAPE Coordinator, Mrs. Doreen Edwards-Mac Intosh; Discipline Coach, Madame Souad Meskini; and Head of Mathematics Department, Mr. Alberick Arrendell.
“The ladies of the DSC (Mrs. Amanda President-Joe. Mrs. Shameda Delaney-Weekes and Ms. Amy Arrindell), were especially instrumental in ensuring that our students were emotionally secured while navigating the often rigorous course of studies,” the principal stated.
For the most part, it was the level of commitment from the teachers in the classrooms, supported by the Management Team that caused these results to be the way they are, because the Management Team, by itself, cannot get such results if the teachers themselves are not committed to the philosophy, projects or the ideas that the Management is advancing.
“We do not endorse micromanaging our teachers. We let them teach as we respect that they are capable and competent in their subject area(s). They will make mistakes, and those mistakes will be corrected. In every institution, there will always be areas for improvement, but our main focus is on the success of our students. This success also has to do with having involved parents, some of whom keep us on our toes, but we respect the feedback that we receive from them, as it helps us to grow,” Mrs. Lucas-Felix said.
This was echoed by the Discipline Coach, who called on parents to be more open and trust Management’s decisions and the school policy makers. “Be a proactive member in enhancing our valued school culture. Our culture is built on open communication, mutual relationships with parents and students, and structured planning, in addition to high organizational skills that strengthen our students' academic skills. Building character and strong self-discipline is our way to academic excellence.”
St. Maarten Academy continues to excel under this relatively new leadership, not only in academics, but in sports, the arts, and leadership among students, to name a few. These accomplishments were highlighted just recently with the first annual ‘Evening of Excellence’, where more than 250 young scholars of the school were recognised for their various achievements. Vice Principal, Ms. Trim, had reminded attendees that “our students are their [parents and the St. Maarten community at large] investment, and an investment in education of young minds is a profitable one which will pay huge dividends in the near future.”
