Sugar Mill Academy families reflect on CPEA journey

Striking a good balance with school work, extracurricular and leisure activities required some juggling and shuffling from the five Sugar Mill Academy mothers whose children secured a spot in the top 10 of this year’s Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA).

Dr Twanna Browne-Caesar, mother of the country’s top student, Saj Caesar; Kimera Smith, mother of the number two student, Azeir Lewis; Elise Quashie, mother of the number three student, Ezron; Kayon Ledger, mother of Adrina who is top girl and fifth overall; and Sabrina Marks-Dasent, mother of Rio who placed ninth overall, spoke to SEARCHLIGHT about the different approaches they used to get and keep the quintet on task for the exam.

All five students are involved in a variety of extracurricular activities including football, music, swimming, sailing and tennis, in addition to having extra private lessons and online tutoring classes.

While Kimera admitted that she had to use a “tough love” approach to encourage Azeir to put in additional revision and take a break from his device, she said he expressed gratitude after the results were announced and he found out all his hard work had paid off.

Sabrina said for Rio, she wanted to ensure she wasn’t “micromanaging him” so allowed him to continue most of his activities up to a few weeks before the exam. She also said while she wanted him to perform well in the exam, she emphasized the need to build a solid foundation for his upcoming academic journey at secondary school.

“I always said to him, Grade five and Grade six isn’t about CPEA, it’s about building a foundation for secondary school. So don’t focus on just that. Just get a good foundation, and then secondary school, where the work really starts to come, will be a lot easier for you.”

All the mothers interviewed agreed with the sentiments expressed by Kayon, mother of Adrina when she said, “When I look at it for the top five plus for SMA, all these kids- every one of them- were actively involved in sports. So it really says a lot that balance is important… as parents, while we encourage them to do well academically, we have to encourage them to find healthy avenues to distress.”

The top three boys, Saj, Azeir and Ezron all set personal goals for their placement in the exam.

Saj, who has always been a top performer in Grade Six told SEARCHLIGHT that he initially did not expect to place first overall though he knew he had the ability to land in the top 10. It would be his mother who broke the news to him after his Saturday morning swimming class, resulting in both mother and son shedding tears of joy.

For Azeir, his sister’s appearances in the local news for their sporting achievements saw him setting a goal to place in the top 10, while Elise said Ezron was inspired by the results of Sugar Mill Academy and SVG’S 2024 top performer, Ethan Kent.

“Last year when the results came out and I told Ezron that Ethan had come first, his immediate response was ‘if Ethan can do it, I can do it too’ and he set his goal to be in the top three,” Elise told SEARCHLIGHT.

The students expressed mixed feelings about heading into secondary school in September, with some saying they eagerly look forward to new adventures, while others say they hope they are accepted by their new peers and can continue to bring in good grades.