As St Gabriel’s Primary School celebrated securing both the top boy and top girl in this year’s Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination, teachers are warning that declining English results nationwide point to an urgent need to strengthen students’ reading habits.

The call comes against the backdrop of a national decline in English performance. The national mean in English fell from 72.5 in 2025 to 64.2 this year.

St Gabriel’s Primary secured both the top boy and top girl positions in this year’s examination and placed four students within the top ten nationally.