A year ago, Maverley Primary was fighting for every academic inch in a community better known for headlines than honor rolls. Today, the St Andrew institution is quietly rewriting its own story: every core subject in the 2025 Primary Exit Profile (PEP) posted an upswing, three boys locked down elite high-school placements, and the staff is already plotting the next offensive.
Principal Valentine Spencer credits the turnaround to what he calls “layered discipline.” At its foundation: relentless teachers, a reading culture that borders on obsession, and a fast-growing after-school chess programme. “Once you get a nine-year-old calculating three moves ahead on a board, math word problems start looking like warm-ups,” he quips.
Forty-four students sat this year’s exams. Seventeen landed in Pathway 1—up sharply from 2024—while twenty secured Pathway 2 slots. For those missing their first-choice high schools, faculty orchestrated successful appeals, keeping every child on a traditional-school trajectory.
Outside reinforcements helped. Sixth-formers from Immaculate Conception High donated weekly tutoring hours, converting complex science modules into bite-sized wins. Field trips doubled as live-action study guides, reinforcing classroom theory with real-world context and, not incidentally, lifting spirits in a neighbourhood that rarely hosts excursions.
The formula resonates at home. Top scorer Caleb Newland heads to Calabar High after a study regimen enforced by his mother and stepfather—three sessions a day, no timeouts. “Discipline is easier when your parents are in the huddle,” Caleb says, already sounding like a coach.
Travaine Graham, soon-to-be Jamaica College student and a fixture at the top of his class, links his performance to faith, late-night review sessions, and an English teacher who refuses to accept sick-day excuses without a second opinion. His mother, Afranci Brooks, jokes that Mrs Fridginate is their unofficial family physician: “If the sniffles weren’t serious, class time trumped couch time.”
Looking ahead, Spencer’s agenda is unambiguous: elevate literacy even further, push critical-thinking drills into lower grades, and draft more parents onto the game plan. “Natural talent matters,” he notes, “but add a parent who follows the playbook and that child jumps a league.”
The PEP framework—Performance Task, Ability Test, Curriculum Test—measures reasoning as much as recall. Maverley Primary’s recent gains suggest a strategic truth: when chessboards, textbooks, teachers, and parents move in concert, checkmate comes early—this time, on the road to high school.
