Students from Anguilla’s six (6) public Primary schools competed fiercely in the third annual Primary Numeracy League held on the evening of Tuesday 8th March, 2023, at the Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium.
Launched in 2019, the league saw a two-year hiatus due to the impact of COVID and its after-effects. Undeterred by the two-year lapse, students, teachers and parents were excited for the relaunch. Curriculum Officer, Mathematics, Mrs. Shana Delaney, commended their enthusiasm saying “congratulations to all teams that participated…[m]any persons would have worked hard and diligently to prepare for this event…It is my hope that such a competition would shine a more positive light on Mathematics, get students excited about it and nurture their interests in the subject area.”
Chief Education Officer (CEO), Mr. Bren Romney, also shared remarks. He said that: “[Mathematics] is more than just numbers and formulas. It embraces logic and reasoning to resolve complicated, interlocking issues. Many decisions made, in the public and private sectors alike, rely to some extent on the use of mathematics. That is why mathematics is an integral part of general education, and one of the big four academic disciplines namely science, technology, engineering and mathematics which are collectively known as STEM.”
The Primary Numeracy League comprised three rounds; the Speed Timetables round, a Jeopardy style round where students selected questions based on a category and a third round of math-related puzzles.
The Alwyn Allison Richardson Primary School (AARPS) team – Sydhari Richardson, Myles Barrow, Gabriel Leveret and Adelia Hunt placed first; the Valley Primary School (VPS) team – Jaiden Reese, Ky’licia Brooks-Gumbs, Kimani Ruan and Reegan Lake placed second; and the Adrian T. Hazell Primary School (ATHPS) team – Fatima Salouane, Auraun Lawrence, Jahmai Gumbs and Makhai Hodge placed third.
In addition, individual awards went to Myles Barrow of the AARPS who won the Bolt Award (for lightning speed in the Timetables contest) and Cynné Liburd from the Morris Vanterpool School who was the audience round winner of the Sudoku Challenge.
Curriculum Officer, Mathematics, Mrs. Delaney, reiterated the importance of providing support to numeracy and mathematics and education in general whether through corporate sponsorship or on a personal level by turning out to support and cheer students on. She thanked God Almighty for creating the conditions that led to the evening’s success, noting that it was a team effort.
Mrs. Delaney thanked the student team substitutes in every school who worked alongside their counterparts who eventually formed the team, all teachers and principals, the Numeracy Coordinators, Leonard Telemaque, Keshara George and Renée Wills, the scorers and spotters (who were mostly high school students and teachers), the host of the evening, Pastor David Christmas, the projector operator, Mrs. Dayna Connor, the Question Reader, Mr. Aaivor Adams, the maintenance men of the Department of Education and the principal and staff of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School for allowing the use of the auditorium.
The sponsors of the third Annual Primary Numeracy League were Anglec, Exotic Group of Companies (both faithful annual sponsors), National Commercial Bank of Anguilla and Liberty Cooperative Credit Union (sponsoring four cash accounts each in the amounts of XCD$425 and $250 respectively), Digicel (sponsored a mobile handset), Four Seasons, Blanchards, Picante, Sarita’s, Anchor Miniature Golf and Crazy Good whose donations went towards the awards and the overall success of the competition.
