Fair Prospect High Celebrates 33-Percentage-Point Increase in English A Passes

The Portland-based Fair Prospect High School is celebrating a 33-percentage-point increase in passes in English A in the 2025 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination.

The school’s pass rate in the subject jumped to 73 per cent from 40 per cent in the previous year.

Fair Prospect High School is one of 56 institutions benefiting under the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information’s National School Learning and Intervention Plan (NSLIP).

The initiative targets high schools identified as “not satisfactory” in the National Education Inspectorate report, with targeted interventions aimed at boosting Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) English and Mathematics results.

These include additional teaching time during holidays, extra lessons, homework programmes, psychosocial and parental engagement, strict attendance monitoring, provision of digital learning resources, a robust accountability framework, and a focus on customised learning based on assessment data.

Acting Head of the Language Department at Fair Prospect High, Kimarie Copeland, tells JIS News that several strategies have been undertaken to boost the confidence of the students in English.

“The teachers… they try their best… they put in a lot of work in getting the students ready,” she notes.

“They had to do a lot of revision with them – extra lessons, camps. Even during the holidays [we] will have them here on camps, online classes and all of that… so those are the extra times that were put in,” Miss Copeland shares.

Principal Geoffrey Flemming credits the improvement to the “collaborative effort” among the staff.

He says that the institution is always looking at ways to boost academic achievement; “therefore, we look at what is happening from grade seven”.

“We focus on moving them from the levels that they come in to be able to be ready to sit the exams,” he points out.

“We look at the incremental improvement of the children, where they are coming from and how we are able to have them exit the school,” he stresses.

“We believe that from grade seven, everybody should be reading within the content area… so we focus on them learning the language, learning to read and that moves all the way up to 11th grade,” he states, noting that the NSLIP support made a difference.

Student, Michelle Bowers, credits her teachers for the CSEC improvement.

“I want to say a very big thank you to them. I want them to know that they are really appreciated; they are really loved by a lot of students. I want them to know that they are special to us. I know that it is hard teaching us, but just gwaan stick around because at the end of the day, we did extremely well,” she says.

Former deputy head boy, Dominique Walters, who secured six CSEC subjects, tells JIS News that he enjoyed his years at Fair Prospect High, noting that “the teachers are top teachers”.

Mathematics teacher, Zandraleisha Eccleston, for her part, notes that students also received support in the subject, under NSLIP.

With the help of a Mathematics coach provided by the Ministry, the school has been able to identify areas in which students have challenges to help them overcome the “maths-phobia,” which prevents them from excelling in the subject, she tells JIS News.

Ms. Eccleston notes that there are certain manipulatives that students can use to help them visualise complex concepts to build confidence in the subject and perform well.

The CSEC results for 2025 indicate that 85 per cent of Jamaican students received a passing grade in English A, while 44 per cent passed Mathematics.

This is an improvement from 76 per cent and 39 per cent, respectively in 2024.

Last year’s result for English A was above the regional average of 80 per cent.

Jamaican students also bettered the regional average of 39 per cent for Mathematics.