Richard Williams is Oracabessa Primary School’s top boy in the Grade Six Achievement Test, scoring an average of 95.8 per cent.

Williams was among a number of boys from the St Mary-based school who excelled in the exams.

And although a number of girls also did well, it was the performance of the boys which drew the attention of those in attendance at the school’s graduation ceremony held at the Boscobel United Church in the parish, last month. The boys made up the majority of students who achieved 90 per cent or more in the different subject areas.

Williams accomplished a perfect score in integrated science and an almost perfect score in mathematics, with 99 per cent.

The top boy, who heads to Campion College next month, was all smiles as he was presented with several prizes throughout the ceremony.

“I feel good about it. I am glad that I got it because I really work hard for it. I put my best in and I got what I wanted,” the brilliant deputy head boy told the Jamaica Observer North East.

Williams said he was also elated to know that the other boys did well in the exams.

“I feel good because usually the girls come out on top of us. The boys did well and were successful,” an excited Williams said.

Top girl Alexcia Rose, a mathematics star who is the Butterkist parish champion for St Mary, scored an average of 94 per cent in the exams.

“I feel so excited,” she said.

Coming from a school with the motto ‘A Disciplined School for a Disciplined Society’, the 155 students heading to high school this year were encouraged to continue to shine in their academic achievements.

Principal of Oracabessa Primary School Hopeton Gordon said the school was sending off the students with pride.

“We do so with a sense of pride and dignity,” he told the audience.

Although the school faced several challenges over this academic year, Gordon said the students not only excelled academically but also in several co-curricular activities.

Compared to 2013, the number of students getting 90 per cent or more in the different subject areas increased significantly for the school. One area in which significant achievement was seen was in mathematics, where some 21 students achieved 90 per cent or more, an increase from nine the year before. It was a similar accomplishment in the other subject areas.