Parents Encouraged to Be More Involved in Their Children’s PEP Preparations

As the new school year begins on September 1, parents are being encouraged to become more involved in their children’s preparations for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations.

Grade-six teacher at the Bethabara Primary School, in Manchester, Anne-Marie Plummer-Wright, who has been in the education system for over 20 years, said children who have great parental involvement, most times, are the students who do well.

“It really works here at Bethabara Primary. Parental involvement is extremely important. I know the PEP curriculum is a little challenging for some parents, and if you don’t understand it, it doesn’t mean that your child can’t do well, because we have extra classes here,” Mrs. Plummer-Wright told JIS News.

She also stressed that parents should monitor the performances of their children and ask questions of the teachers.

“PEP starts from your child starts school the very first day, so don’t wait. If your child is struggling, especially with reading, because the exams are exams that you have to read, don’t wait until your child gets to grade six to start seeking reading help. Start the work the very minute the child starts school, and put in the extra work, and the results will be great,” the teacher added.

Of the 67 students who sat the PEP exams at Bethabara primary, 43 or 64 per cent were placed on Pathway 1, indicating that they are performing satisfactorily and are ready to access the grade seven curriculum.

Sixteen were placed on Pathway 2, which is for students who need some level of support in accessing the curriculum at the secondary level, and eight were placed on Pathway 3, which is for students with special needs who require targeted intervention.

Mrs. Plummer-Wright also shared that at Bethabara Primary, the teachers provide additional support to students who might be struggling in a particular subject area

“We realise that we have students who need extra time, and when you are given like, say, an hour to do a subject because we are subject based, some children do not benefit. So, what we do, for example is identify a set that will come in the morning, say 7 o’clock, and then another set comes in the afternoon. Because what I realized is that when we have everybody in one setting, some children do not benefit,” she told JIS News.

For his part, Principal of the institution, Cecil Hamilton reported that the school has continued to maintain a high standard throughout area, and “we are proud to say that we are a top school within Manchester.”

Regarding the PEP exam, he informed that the school surpassed the national averages in Social Studies and Language Arts.

“We were top in those areas, our overall percentage in Social Studies was 71.6 per cent and in Language Arts, it was 68.7 per cent. [For] Science, we had 62.7 per cent and Mathematics, uncharacteristically was 47.8 per cent. What we find out is from year to year the data changes from cohort to cohort, so come this year, I know that we will have an excellent result based on what we are tracking,” Mr. Hamilton said.

He told JIS News that when the PEP results were released it brought a “carnival-like atmosphere. It was really, really a big day for the students, parents, aunts, grandmothers.”

The Principal shared that in 2024, the students did well in Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.

“So, we know that the team is well oiled and ready to go. With the help of our team members here and the specialist body that we have introduced at the school, where teachers teach to their strength. Parent involvement is very important, and that is a critical component of what we see here for our students. All these students that are doing well…[their] parents were really involved,” Mr. Hamilton stated.

Meanwhile, Guidance Counsellor at the school, Horace McCauley, highlighted the strong emphasis that the school has on setting goals, self-awareness and personal development.

“All of those areas are critical in preparing students to learn. A critical component of the learning is that the parents must be involved and must be involved in a proactive way, it is not just passively, but proactively for the student to succeed. When the child gets home in the afternoon, you need to see what the student is doing. Speak to the teachers if you are concerned of the student progress, and it is of critical importance that you reaffirm the importance of believing in self,” the guidance counsellor stated.

He also noted that the school has a strong Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) programme, where all of the stakeholders are involved in the teaching and learning process.

“It not just from us here, we collaborate with our parents, we collaborate with other external agencies in order to get our students doing well. Because of steady leadership, this has inspired the entire teaching and learning environment, the teachers, parents, all of us to do well because of the leadership of the school,” Mr. McCauley told JIS News.

In the 2025 sitting of PEP, 63 and 69 per cent of students were deemed proficient or highly proficient in Mathematics and Language Arts, respectively.

For Science and Social Studies, 70 and 72 per cent of students, respectively, scored in the proficient or highly proficient categories.