IT has been 47 years since Pembroke Hall Primary School first opened its doors to students, and over the years the St Andrew institution has been living up to its motto, ‘Only the best is good enough’.

With some of its 1,157 students coming from as far as Linstead in St Catherine and Longville in Clarendon, it is the dedication of the 36 teachers on roll that is the recipe for success.

“At the grade six level, the teachers set work for the students from the night before. Sometimes we leave school at 10:00 pm because we were setting work for them,” said Paulette Wright, grade six teacher for 20 years.

Camille Hutchinson, another grade six teacher, said students are required to arrive at school early to begin working, and they are provided with breakfast. Additional preparation for the Grade Six Achievement Test includes Saturday classes and even Christmas classes.

Though not the only requirement for success, the extra work has yielded positive results and the school has seen an average 55 per cent pass rate for traditional high schools each year.

“We have our differences, but we have one goal, which is the interest of the children,” Wright said.

“We also have a motherly figure in the principal. She is stern, but she looks out for you. She’s never in her office; when you’re trying to find her she’s in a classroom teaching, on the field playing cricket, skipping or even playing ‘dandy shandy’. The staff feels comfortable with her, and so do the children.”

Principal Norma McNeil said she tries to provide a rounded curriculum for her students.

“It’s not just about academics. We balance academics with aesthetics and parents see how we get along with the children and they want to be a part of that,” she said.

In order to motivate the students McNeil said the school has an annual excellence awards programme where the top student of each grade is awarded and the students all work hard to be on top.

Where discipline is concerned, the teachers admit that things are not perfect, however, only a minority will deviate in behaviour. To manage the issue, the school implemented a behaviour modification programme which seeks to give guidance to those who are out of line. Parent consultations are another way to emphasise the importance of discipline.

Two of the school’s strongest areas are their sports and music programmes.

Bjorn Folkes, physical education teacher, said apart from regular classes, students are exposed to various competitions that help to improve their game skills.

“For football, we were the champions of primary league for 2013; and in netball we were third in Kingston and St Andrew and fourth in the All Island Rally. Although we don’t have a swimming pool, we are the Mayberry Investment Limited top primary school in swimming, and island runner-up in the primary school section of Nestle’s swim meet, where two swimmers represented us,” Folkes said.

Folkes added that the students are also given an introduction to cricket to prepare them for secondary school.

According to Verona Porteous Fletcher, head of the school’s music programme, Pembroke Hall has maintained a standard of excellence since 1991.

“The children do well vocally and instrumentally. Where music is concerned, we’re probably the only primary school in the island that has mastered all genres of music.”

In fact, Pembroke Hall is home to Wayne J, singer of the popular Chikungunya song.

Apart from attending music classes, Porteous Fletcher said the students are also taught to read music.

“If they know it, it helps them to be better at whatever they do, be it singing or playing. I don’t know their career paths. Many may choose music, so being exposed to it they are able to define their future and decide whether they want to pursue music or not,” she said.

“When they are singing and I say to them ‘crescendo on the last verse’, they know what I mean, and if you’re really going to do well in music, you have to know the terms,” she said.

She added that, apart from the choir, the school has drumming and guitar ensembles as well as other instrumental groups. Also, the school has been hosting an in-house gospel competition for the past 11 years to give other students who may not be on the choir a chance to display their talent.

And though not mandatory, each student is encouraged to be part of an extracurricular activity to make them more rounded.