BICKERSTETH, St James

IN the usually quiet farming district of Bickersteth, near Cambridge in St James, situates the Bickersteth Primary and Infant School commonly referred to as ‘the little country school’.

There, they have some witty grades three and four students, alike their colleagues at 11 other primary schools across St James, Manchester, St Catherine and Kingston.

The schools are all part of the First Global Bank/Ministry of Education (FGB/MOE) Music, Perfect Pitch for a Sound Education Programme, which incorporates the FGB Master Minds Quiz Competition, Music Day, Math Adventure Day and Literacy Day.

Last Thursday, Bickersteth’s teachers and quiz coaches Vertibelle Clarke, Kataniya Parkinson-Edwards and Nyon Granville, hand-picked a group of students to represent the school in the FGB/MOE Master Minds Quiz Competition finals held in Kingston, for a chance to win the first place prize of a $500,000.

The team comprised Trudyann Brissett, Ramona Woodburn, Landra Reid and Cahjay Hamilton – whose ambitions are to become journalist, pharmacist, doctor and pilot, respectively.

Around midafternoon, the team took their place on stage to face off with students from the Southborough Primary School, based in Portmore, St Catherine. Both teams had similar make-up of three girls and a boy.

At the semi-finals a week earlier, Bickersteth scored 89 points to Southborough’s 86.

Winning the toss last week, Bickersteth Primary opted to field the second question. Obviously unsettled and overcome with nervousness,

Bickersteth passed on several questions in the first round and Southborough took advantage, leading them five to three.

But the St James-based school came back strong in round two and later triumphed over Southborough.

From the win, Bickersteth received $500,000; Southborough bagged $250,000, while third place winners Mandeville Primary and Junior High collected $150,000. Fourth-placed, Kingston-based Pembroke Hall Primary’s team members each received medals and gift baskets courtesy of GraceKennedy.

“I was confident that my students would have copped the first place.

My teachers invested significantly in seeing to their success,” said an elated Vivian Douglas, Bickersteth Primary’s principal at the end of the exciting contest.

Bickersteth has now won $750,000 in the competition, having received $250,000 for placing second in last year’s quiz.

Douglas said the funds would be used to fence and pave sections of the school’s premises.

Meanwhile, CEO at First Global Bank, Courtney Campbell, said the bank’s management and staff are pleased with the overall success the

Music Literacy programme has reaped since its inception in October 2011.

“It has surpassed our expectations based on the impact it has been having on students’ educational development and their overall discipline,” Campbell emphasised. Built in the 1950’s and situated 18 kilometres from Montego Bay, Bickersteth Primary and Infant School is among several rural schools across the island that is in dire need of infrastructural development.

Educators in the meantime have hailed FGB’s Master Mind Quiz Competition as another innovative way for schools to raise money for their development programmes, especially at a time when funds are hard to come by.