At the age of four, she was placed into State care with her one-year-old sibling. Eight years later she is the national top performing girl of the 190 wards who sat the 2026 Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams.

The 12-year-old math whiz, who the Jamaica Observer cannot name for privacy reasons, was on Tuesday honoured alongside 189 of her peers by the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) during its annual PEP Awards Ceremony at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston. The event recognises youth from State care who completed the examination and will be matriculating to high school.

Speaking with the Observer following the ceremony, the reserved youngster, who emerged with a score of 368.5 out of 400 and who will be attending St Jago High School in St Catherine, said she had more or less expected that she would emerge on top but was at a loss for words to describe the moment.

“I don’t know, I just feel good,” she said quietly. What she lacked in enthusiasm, however, her beaming foster mother compensated for, concisely sharing with the Observer the story behind her daughter’s triumph.

“She may not have all the details about it but she and her sibling were just placed in a home that my family and I would usually visit and help. We got drawn to her and her sibling so we applied to be their foster parents and we have her sister as well. They have been with us about six years; her sibling is nine,” the woman shared proudly.

Asked her sentiments on her daughter’s performance she said enthusiastically, “Words cannot explain how the family feels. Everybody is really happy and excited, from graduation to now. I must say thank you for the support we get from the CPFSA along the journey. Our intention is to keep them straight through”.

The CPFSA’s National Top Boy awardee, who was absent from the ceremony but who scored 344.9 gaining a place at St George’s College in the Corporate Area, was also recognised for his achievement.

Both students were gifted a trophy and a laptop.

Of the 190 students who sat the exams, 89 were boys (46.8 per cent), and 101 girls (53.2 per cent). Of the entire cohort, 67 children call residential child care facilities and places of safety home, while 73 are in foster care. Forty-two children are in family reintegration arrangements, while eight are placed based on supervision orders.

In her address, CPSFA Chief Executive Officer Laurette Adams-Thomas urged students to believe in themselves and maximise their potential.

“Nobody can limit you. High school will bring you experiences, new friendships, and new challenges; be disciplined, be respectful, be kind and stick with the right friends, find the right friends, it’s important that you align yourselves with the right friends, make sure you ask God to choose your friends,” Adams-Thomas stressed.

“Go forward with confidence and courage because your next chapter begins now… we believe you are destined for greatness,” she said.

Annually, the CPFSA spends approximately $115 million in tuition and examination fees for children enrolled in educational institutions up to the tertiary level. There are more than 4,000 children currently in State care. Of that number, 61 per cent are in the entity’s family environment programme, with the remainder living in residential child care facilities, which comprise children homes and places of safety.