It is not an easy task to teach two grades at the same time while performing duties as principal, but Nadine Fisher has shown that she is dedicated to the students at Retirement Primary and Infant School in St Ann.

In fact, the results of the 2017 Grade Six Achievement Test speak to the hard work and dedication Fisher and her staff have been putting in at the school.

When the Jamaica Observer North & East spoke with her recently she revealed one of the strategies she used to aid students’ learning in subject areas they dislike or are weak in.

Juggling grades five and six, she used music to capture the interests of her students in classes they were apathetic towards. This, she said, was an instrumental part of lessons for mathematics and social studies.

“To make the lessons lively and to have students grasp the concepts I put the lessons to songs, and we used music with catchy rhythms [to] reinforce… I had to do this to capture their interest,” Fisher said.

However, she said this was not the case with integrated science — a subject students showed great interest in. It was therefore no surprise that three students scored 93 per cent in the exam. The top three students in most subject areas scored over 90 per cent, she disclosed, and added that the top mark in all subject area was over 90 per cent.

In some instances only one per cent separated first, second or third place in each subject area. She cited social studies as one such area.

The top boy and girl Ashwin Williams and Kaysi-Ann Fagan were awarded trophies for their exceptional performances.

“We were not able to award everybody, so we awarded the top two. We need more sponsors,” Fisher said, noting that she is hoping to get more sponsors on board in order to recognise the efforts of more students next year.

Over the years the school, which has 125 students at the primary level and 50 students in its infant department, has seen significant improvement in students.

It has operated as a multi-grade school for years, but is now undergoing transformation. Additional teachers have since been employed, resulting in only one multi-grade class operating now.

This is the class is taught by Fisher.