Crooked Tree student, Ashton Tillett, tops the 2014 P.S.E

The anticipated results of the Primary School Exams were released this afternoon. Seven thousand two hundred and forty five candidates sat the exams and as has been the trend in the past years, the results show terrible weaknesses in Math, English and Social Studies. In math, a worrisome forty seven percent scored only E’s which is below the fifty percent of the passing grade. In English, the performances improved only slightly from last year and in Social Sciences, fifty-eight percent of the students earned a satisfactory level, which is down from last year’s passes. We will have an in depth analysis in Friday’s newscast, but let’s get to the results which show that there were ties in the fifth, seventh and ninth places. This year, in descending order the top eleven students are Jonathon Alpuche from Holy Redeemer School, Shanelle Palma from the San Pedro Roman Catholic School and Larry Palma from Holy Angels, Stann Creek, who share ninth place; Jingqi Liani from the Shepherd Academy and Myles Coombs from Saint Andrews Anglican School in the Cayo District share seventh place; Avaunt Kelly from Queen Square School, Belize City and Veronica Peresedova from Saint Andrews Anglican are in fifth place. Alessa Castillo from La Inmaculada Orange Walk School took fourth place. Kenyah Hyde and Andres Hung both tied for second place and Ashton Tillett from the Crooked Tree Government School is this year’s top scorer. Tillett obtained three hundred and seventy one out of four hundred points. It is the first time that the Crooked Tree School has earned the top score in the P.S.E. and we caught up with the student, principal and family this afternoon. As expected, there was good reason to celebrate the good news.

Ashton Tillett

Ashton Tillett, Top Scorer, P.S.E. 2014

“I feel totally satisfied and it is a great feeling to finally reach a goal that you have tried so hard for. It is a good feeling. I prayed to God and I asked him to be there for me. I couldn’t have done this without some special teachers from school; Verla Jex and all the other teachers that supported me with additional morning classes. I think what helped me on the English is because I like to read a lot and I like to study. All were easy except for the Math Two which was a little bit challenging because I think they put a piece of high school work in it and I think that was what took me down a little. To me, the subject that was easiest was English. I am always good at English and most of the subjects.”

Winnie Gillett

Winnie Gillett, Principal, Crooked Tree Government School

“It is one of the best feelings. I can’t even explain how we felt when we got the news that we had topped the country. it is something that we’ve been aiming for because we are always thriving for the best. As our school motto says, “Thriving for Excellence.” So I guess we’ve reached excellence and we will strife harder for next year.”

Verla Jex, Teacher, Crooked Tree Government School

Verla Jex

“We did our best; we tried hard; we worked hard for the past two years. Here at Crooked Tree, we try to do a program where we teach the children in five and six—the same teachers so that you know their strengths and weaknesses. Ashton and I and the rest of the class, we work very hard. We have always been aiming for high success, but honestly we didn’t expect for it to be so high today. So we are exhilarated—if that’s the only word that we can use today—if that’s the only word that we can use today; it is hard to describe how we feel about Ashton today.”

Winnie Gillett

“We have broken our record; I am not sure if a government school has ever topped the P.S.E.  And for a little school like Crooked Tree Government School to do it, I feel like I won the lotto.”