After a successful 2021 academic year, St Joseph’s Primary School’s principal says they are moving in the right direction and moving forward for the better.

St Joseph’s Primary School celebrated a year of improvement and moving forward at their prize giving celebrations last week.

The school celebrated the academic achievements of the ECE (early childhood) classes through to Year 5 on Tuesday. The youngest students of the school also got to perform a concert for their parents and family members who came to celebrate their achievements.

The prize giving for the senior Year 6 students of the school took place on Wednesday. Savenaca Tukitoba, the school’s principal, said that it was an awesome day to farewell the grade sixes.

Heleina Tiere in her speech farewelling her graduating class said: “There never was a dull moment in Grade 6 this year with 24 lively, beautiful, smart and sharp academic and spiritual students! It has been my privilege teaching and nurturing the future young minds of this nation of the Cook Islands.”

Vainemoeroa Tauira received the Dux of the Year title. She also received the award for Outstanding Sports Girl Champion 2021, Outstanding Student in ICT 2021, Outstanding Student in Religion 2021, and recognition of outstanding effort towards keeping the school environment clean and green.

This year the school celebrated the year of St Joseph in which much of their learning was based around the different traits of the school’s patron saint. They also celebrated the school’s 125-year anniversary.

Tukitoba said: “We are satisfied with the year and academic, results wise it was a successful year. Children are different every year and progress differently in their own results.”

This year the teachers have also engaged in further discussion on teaching and learning, coming up with creative ideas on how to improve learning in the classroom.

“All the solutions we have identified are going to be implemented in full force in 2022,” said Tukitoba.

He hailed the school’s reading remedial programme that had been introduced and proved highly successful this year.

Tukitoba said to his knowledge, they are the only school on the island with a full-time teacher looking after the reading remedial programme.

The programme targets students who are below and/or well below reading levels for their age to guide them and help them improve.

Overall, Tukitoba said that the school was seeing evident improvement and positive outcomes in literacy especially this year. “We are heading in the right direction and moving forward for the better.”

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