Independent School hosts annual awards ceremony |16 December 2006

The ceremony was held on Wednesday evening (December 13) at the International Conference Centre in the presence of the school’s Board of Directors and Governors, its director Zotique Pragassen, head teacher Laureena Barbe, other top officials from the school, parents, teachers and students.

The Awards Ceremony included a talent show, in which students performed a variety of dance forms, songs and role plays.

Besides being rewarded for their academic achievements, students were also awarded for their good performances in sports, extra curricular and other activities organized by the school and other international learning institutions.

Speaking at the ceremony, the chairman of the Board of Governors, David Andre, said that the event was being organized “not only to share the achievement of students during the year, but also that of the school over the years”.

He said that the ceremony “was a time to reflect on where the school has been, and where it is headed”, noting that the school has come a long way ever since its inauguration thirteen years ago.

Mr Andre remarked that the group of forty-eight S5 leavers this year was in fact the first group of students to attend the first Crèche year of the Independent School back in 1993.

He noted that the school currently has a total of six hundred and thirty-two students, and will be welcoming a new group of forty-eight toddlers next year for their first crèche year at the school.

Commenting on the students’ academic performances for the year, Mr Andre explained that the results achieved for IGCSE exams, “is proof of the progress that both the school and the students have made this past twelve months”.

He noted that 35% of the students who sat the exams received straight ‘A’s, while only 7% was awarded below average credential.

All IGCSE students from the school sat for a minimum eight subjects and Mr Andre revealed that “extra improvement was recorded in science and computer studies subjects”.

While much emphasis was placed on students’ performance, Mr Andre said that the school also places “training and staff development high on the agenda”, revealing that a teacher was allowed to pursue further studies this year, and that four others will also benefit next year. The school currently has fifty-eight teachers.

At the Awards Ceremony on Wednesday four students from each class – from Primary Three onwards -- were rewarded for their good showing.

For the higher class, meaning S5, students were rewarded according to their performance by subjects.

For the second consecutive year, the shield for best “house” went to Mars.

The prizes and awards were presented to the deserving students by the school’s director, Mr Pragassen; Mr Andre himself; the chairperson of the PTA, Jacqueline Moustache-Belle; and the chairman of the Board of Directors, Radley Weber.