Coote Savannah ECI registers buzzer-beater over Town Head Primary and Infant School

WESTERN BUREAU:

Coote Savannah narrowly won the 2024 Westmoreland Parish Library Network Grange Hill Branch Library’s Early Childhood Institution Quiz competition which was staged as part of Child Month activities, this year.

The competition, which started in 2017, returned this year after a four-year hiatus with 13 schools competing for the right to be crowned champions. With quick thinking and quick fingers, the students of Coote Savannah Early Childhood Institution (ECI), located deep inside the Burnt Savannah community in the parish, were able to stave off the challenge from Town Head Primary and Infant School and former champions Vision Plus ECI to win by a point over.

Coote Savannah finished with 16 points ahead of Town Head Primary and Infant School (15 points) in the final on May 28.

Principal and quiz coach of Coote Savannah ECI, Nerissa Gray-Brown, told The Gleaner that it was a good way to end Child Month.

“It is an elated feeling to win the competition,” Gray-Brown said, noting that the school did not initially get an official invite.

“I found out about it through another school and I made some calls and we were accepted.”

She boasted that her team was made up of students who have been bonding for the last two years, but will now be leaving to start their primary education come September.

Additionally, she said that her quizzers were previously exposed to internal competition, but had no prior experience with the speed and buzzer sections.

“It was easy getting the children prepared for the competition because we practised in the evenings after school and on weekends for the finals,” the champion school quiz coach revealed.

“They did not perform as I had anticipated, because I had great expectations of a runaway victory. But it just didn’t happen,” Gray-Brown added.

Geneva Nembhard, teacher and coach at Town Head Primary and Infant School, said her team lost because they were nervous and competed individually, rather than as a team.

While they got their invitation in good time, Nembhard told The Gleaner that overwhelming school activities forced them to start their preparation later than anticipated.

“I am feeling overwhelmed because it’s their first time entering. We started our preparation very late, maybe a week before the competition,” said Nembhard.

“I am happy that we lost by only one point, so I know that we did well. And I am proud of my students,” she stated.

Marlene Uter, the principal and coach who guided Vision Plus ECI to third, having beaten Frome Preparatory School 35-26 in the semi-finals, said this year was challenging.

“The children had challenges, some of them were sick at the time. For some, their relatives had left to go overseas, so they shut down,” Uter assessed.

“At one point, one of my students shouted, ‘I really miss my daddy’ – and from that moment, I knew it was over for us, just hearing a five-year-old saying that,” she explained.

Senior librarian at the Westmoreland Parish Library, Nordia Miller-Gray, said the competition is designed to help promote literacy, education, and community engagement, encourage reading, teamwork, and learning in a fun and rewarding manner from an early age.

“The Westmoreland Parish Library Network remains committed to nurturing young talent and empowering communities through education and literacy initiatives,” Miller-Gray noted.

“Together, let us continue to inspire, educate, and empower the next generation,” she encouraged.

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