Fate of sixth graders to
be determined this week
PHILIPSBURG--With the exception of figures not obtained from two schools on the number of pupils taking the secondary school entrance exams this year, it appears that approximately 574 adolescents will be added to the population of one of the eight secondary schools on the island.
Based on figures obtained from representatives of the six elementary schools falling under the Roman Catholic umbrella, namely St. Dominic Primary, St. Joseph, Sister Borgia, Sister Regina, Sister Marie Laurence and Sister Magda, 150 pupils if successfully passing the entrance exams to either St. Dominic High or Milton Peters College (MPC)/Sundial will be graduating from elementary school this year.
A total of 154 will be graduating from the island’s public schools – Ruby Labega, Leonard Connor, Oranje School and Dr. Martin Luther King – again if successful in passing the entrance exams for St. Dominic High, St. Maarten Academy, St. Maarten Academy PSVE, St. Maarten Vocational School and MPC/Sundial.
Figures for private schools such as Seventh Day Adventist, Methodist Agogic Centre, Hillside Christian Schools and Learning Unlimited indicated that their cumulative 245 pupils who took the exams for St. Dominic High, St. Maarten Academy, St. Maarten Academy PSVE, St. Maarten Vocational School and MPC/Sundial, if successful in passing the exams, will graduate. In the case of Learning Unlimited which evaluates its pupils throughout the year, pupils will flow directly into what the school’s American system calls middle school.
In the case of the entrance exams for MPC and Sundial, the exam commission of these two schools has set the same exam for both schools seeing that both schools fall under the same school board. As public elementary schools, all pupils take the entrance exam for Milton Peters and Sundial. The pupils will be divided amongst the two schools depending on their levels determined by their exam results.
Statistics attained from St. Dominic High representatives show that compared to the 163 pupils who took the entrance exam last year for St. Dominic High, this year only 136 pupils from amongst other schools, but mainly Methodist Agogic Centre, St. Joseph and St. Dominic Primary took the exam. This year St. Maarten Academy Academic and VSBO saw an increase from last year’s 376 sixth grade pupils to some 400 plus pupils taking the entrance exams.
An increase in pupils taking the entrance exam at St. Maarten Academy could result from St. Dominic’s cancellation of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Basic Level concentrating only on the General Level. Both schools offer the same CXC programme, however, St. Maarten Academy still offers the basic level. Therefore all students who want to attend St. Dominic High School will have to be strictly on the HAVO level. St. Maarten Academy still gives the option for the students to be divided between its academic and its vocational sections which are determined by the students’ exam results.
The fate of the island’s sixth graders will be determined by the end of this week when all exams are graded and the level of each student thoroughly evaluated.
