MUNRO College and the Hampton School recently celebrated excellence with prize-giving ceremonies a week apart.

Jacob Phillips, son of former Cabinet Minister Peter Phillips, was the top prize winner at Munro, but more than 150 of his fellow students were presented with certificates and trophies for excellence in education and sports for the 2009-2010 school year. A week later, 478 Hampton students were rewarded for their hard work at the school’s 157th annual prize-giving ceremony.

Outgoing principal of Munro, Branford Gayle said academic performance at Munro continued to be very good.

“We entered 123 students and 111 (or 90.24 per cent) achieved five or more CXC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate [CSEC]) passes,” Gayle said.

Seven students passed 10 subjects. Of the 19 subjects sat, Gayle reported that there were 100 per cent passes in French, principles of business and visual arts, while the boys achieved passes in the 90s in English language, technical drawing, social studies, physics, IT, and human and social biology. In mathematics, there was an 88.60 per cent pass rate with 44 students earning grade one and 36 grade two.

The Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination results were also good, said Gayle. There were 100 per cent passes in accounting I, biology II, computer studies II, history I, management of business II, physics II, and sociology II. In sports, the Junior Sportsman Award went to Ahkiem Forbes while the Senior Sportsman Award went to Turks and Caicos national Delano Williams.

Hampton’s principal Heather Murray praised her girls, noting that 41 per cent received silver awards and 17 per cent got gold certificates. The Hampton School silver certificate and badge for commendable academic performance went to students achieving a final-year average of between 75 and 84.9 per cent, while 85 per cent and above gained the gold certificate and badge.

“Our girls continue to raise the bar, and Hampton girls don’t follow the trend, they set the trend,” Murray said.

Of 176 students sitting the CSEC examinations, 172 (or 97 per cent) passed five subjects or more. Four students passed 11 subjects, 14 passed 10, 41 passed nine, and 74 passed eight.

“We have an eight-subject curriculum, so all our girls who do nine, 10 or 11 subjects are working beyond what we expect of them. But we have 133 (or 75 per cent) of our ladies passing eight subjects or more, including mathematics and English,” the principal said.

Shada Sinclair and Deana Dicker were the top performers at Hampton. Both excelled in CSEC with 10 ones.

— Michael McLean