Birnamwood Primary School Students Excel in PEP

The Birnamwood Primary School in Portland is celebrating the performance of their students in the 2025, Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations.

Overall, eight students were placed on Pathway 1, indicating that they are performing satisfactorily and are ready to access the grade-seven curriculum.

One student was placed on Pathway 2, which is for students who need some level of support in accessing the curriculum at the secondary level, and one was also placed on Pathway 3, which is for students with special needs who require targeted intervention.

Principal of the school, Michele-Ann Smith Brimm told JIS News that more than two years ago, measures were put in place to improve student performance in Mathematics, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies.

She informed that since the 2023/2024 school year, the students have been benefiting from the efforts.

“In terms of lesson planning, we had to be intentional in terms of ensuring that the teachers planned the lesson…to have [the] students bring out more critical-thinking skills,” Mrs. Smith Brimm said.

The Principal stressed that lesson plans were geared towards having the students not “just recall and remember”.

“We had to be interventional, where we had to target students whom we knew were weak in one subject area or the other. Where we found that there were some subjects that needed additional support, we made sure we used what we call a block session each day. This was our intervention time… for 30 minutes,” she told JIS News.

The Principal is also advising the students to get settled in their new learning environment, noting that the schools receiving them will have “less time to be pulling out students, rather than focusing on getting them on board and accessing the curriculum at the grade level”.

Mrs. Smith Brimm also encouraged her teachers to continue the hard work they have been doing.

“Our success means that the teachers have been doing very well. Our parents, I encourage them as well to not give up, because some of the parents are sometimes getting very weary and frustrated when they themselves are not able to assist the students like they would like to,” she stated.

“Our intervention coming for the next school year has a lot to do with parental involvement and putting them on board, ensuring that they, too, can feel comfortable in assisting their children. They have done a very good job, and we just want to commend both teachers and the parents for their hard work,” she added.

Mrs. Smith Brimm also lauded the Pollyanna Project for refurbishing the school’s library and equipping it with over 2,000 books, which has allowed students the ability to choose books at their comfort level and interest.

Meanwhile, Senior teacher at the school, Vivia Brissett-Sutherland, said part of the motivation strategy at the institution, is to reward students who master at grade four and then at grade five.

“We give a cash incentive as a staff. Once a child gets proficiency straight across the board or mastery or highly proficient, then they will get a cash award, and that is from the staff. So, every child is going to try to work hard because they want that cash,” she stated.

Top student Abigail Warburton said while exams were stressful, “I was determined to study and to pass”.

She also encouraged other students to “focus on class more, pay more attention, and work very hard. The teachers, they love us, and they want the best for us. Also, I believe they should have more strict teachers because that is how some children learn”.

For her mother, Viviene Warburton, it was a memorable moment that she will not forget.

“To know that your child has accomplished amidst the hard work, the studying, staying up late at night… it is a big deal,” she shared with JIS News.

Mrs. Warburton said for children to do well in school, there is a role for parents to keep pushing their child to do the best.

“Keep encouraging them and be a good listener to your child, [get] involved with your child’s work. When the child gets homework, do your homework, and do it on time. Keep encouraging your child to do well, motivate them. Give them gifts when they do well, and don’t you ever shut up your child,” she reasoned.

Top Male Student at the school, Talique Coulson, said he was very happy and excited, after he checked the system and found out that he was a top achiever in the exams.

“It brings hope to my heart,” he stated, while encouraging his fellow students to pay less attention to social media and spend more time on schoolwork.

He also praised his teachers for helping him to understand a subject area he was struggling with.

His mother, Avandeen Ross, shared that for quite a while, she constantly reminded her son that he needed to study, and “be more assertive, be more focused. So that was that. He continued to put in the work, then he maintained the average and also attained the position being the top boy”.

The 2025 administration of the PEP exam marks the second year, since its inception in 2019, that a cohort of students transitioning from the primary level to the secondary level have a complete profile, taking in all the scores and achievement levels obtained from the Grade Four Performance Tasks.

It includes literacy and numeracy tests, the Grade Five Performance Tasks and Grade Six components comprising the Ability Test, Performance Tasks and Curriculum-based Tests.