GRANGE HILL, Westmoreland — Prize-filled envelopes clutched in their little hands and medals around their necks, smiling students of Coote Savannah Early Childhood Institution (ECI) proudly paused for a commemorative photo on Tuesday after the contest in which they bested a dozen other schools.

Led by captain Timar Green, members of the winning team are Kalaina Brown, Leanna Brown, Dezhanie Perrin, Khalisa McNeil, and Rushad Headley. Hosted by the Westmoreland Parish Library Network, the competition was held at Grange Hill Branch Library.

“I’m proud of myself. I wish I could do this again but, unfortunately, I’m going to a next school in September. I’m going to Friendship Primary,” Green said wistfully.

For Coote Savannah ECI Principal Nerissa Gray-Brown, the victory was all the more special because she found out about the Early Childhood Institution Quiz Competition 2024 Edition long after it had been announced. By then the deadline for entries had passed but she called Grange Hill Library and they gave her school the green light to participate.

“We weren’t aware [of the contest]. Sometimes, you see, because Burnt Savannah is back in the bush, it is not all the time that we get to hear about things,” explained Gray-Brown.

She has some experience in staging competitions herself. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, she came up with an idea to get phone credit to students so they could join online classes. She began with a spelling bee competition which eventually morphed into a quiz competition that covered all subjects. Winners had their phone credit topped up, hence its name the Top-up Child Initiative. It was sponsored by Sandals Resorts International.

Gray-Brown longed to expand the contest to other schools and was working on the questions when she heard about the competition being hosted by Grange Hill Library.

“It was better for me because I would not have to be worrying myself about getting other schools to come to Coote to do the quiz,” she said.

She welcomed the opportunity to see how her students stack up against their peers from other schools.

“We are going out there into the wider community to do the quiz. It’s not just my children against my children anymore. I am super happy today to see that we came from almost the wild card to the champion,” stated Gray-Brown who said she is looking forward to next year’s staging.

Coote Savannah ECI won the competition with 16 points, one more than Town Head Early Childhood Institution.

Town Head ECI teacher Jenieva Nembhard said her team was a bit timid and that contributed to them placing second.

“I’m proud of them because the disadvantage they had was that they were a bit shy. They were not experienced so that took away from them winning. They knew the answers but it’s just that they didn’t speak up and they were a bit laid-back and shy,” she explained.

She noted that at one point it was not her team’s turn to answer “but they called out the answer and the other team heard and just capitalised on that”.

But the day belonged to winners Coote Savannah ECI. Among those congratulating them was senior librarian in charge of Westmoreland Parish Library Network, Nordia Miller-Gray. She apologised for the administrative glitch that led to them not being invited when the other schools were told of the contest.

“This is good to know that, yes, they weren’t invited initially, but they ended up the champion school,” stated Miller-Gray.

She explained that the competition started in 2017 with eight schools in the Grange Hill area, a few months before she took control of the network. The pandemic resulted in a three-year hiatus and the contest resumed this year with 13 schools of the 16 that initially expressed an interest.

The senior librarian is looking forward to hosting a bigger competition next year.

“Bigger and better because now we realise the interest and the level of support that we’re getting. We know that people are out there who are very interested in this and would want to see the kids excelling in various ways,” stated Miller-Gray.

She said there is also an interest in extending it to other branches in the parish, “because we want to have at least two other service points having something like this.”