Solomon Elusoji
After a feisty contest involving five primary arms, comprising four representatives of Corona Schools, Corona Ikoyi School, Lagos has emerged the overall best at the ninth Corona Inter-school Quiz Competition, which was held at its Victoria Island School premises recently.
The result of the competition, which was split into four broad categories- English Language, Mathematics, Science, General Knowledge, and Mind Gym- saw Corona Victoria Island School clinch the second place, while Corona Apapa School came third.
The results of each category were more democratic, signifying the general brilliance of each participating school. In the English Language category, Ikoyi and Victoria Island were tied for first position; in Mathematics, Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Apapa and Gbagada also shared the first position; in Science, Apapa was number one; in General Knowledge, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Gbagada shared the spot; while in Mind Gym, Ikoyi came first.
The first Corona School, Ikoyi Day Nursery, established in March 1955 has grown to include seven more institutions; including Corona College of Education which was established to provide quality continuous professional development for teachers.
Basking in the euphoria of a successful outing, the Head Boy of Corona Ikoyi, who was also part of the winning quiz team, Adejare Adesoko, said the result was through practice, belief and effort. He added that the school prepares one for the future and has no doubt that those who pass through the citadel of learning will one day become future ambassadors of the country.
Sharing the secret of the school’s success, a Mathematics teacher in the Ikoyi School, Victor Omidele, said the pupils’ achievement at the competition was as a result of constant practice. “It started with practising with the children, using several questions within the curriculum and outside; went as far as going online to get likely questions and to God be the glory, today we came out tops.
Corroborating Omidele’s views, the science teacher, Oladipupo Abdullahi said “it has been very tasking. We had to put the children through a lot of work. We had to go even a bit above their level because we had to prepare for the unknown, because we didn’t know the kind of questions that would be coming up.â€
Lauding the quiz initiative which she believes is an avenue for the pupils to learn new things beyond classroom, one of the parents, Mrs. Ehi-Kathy Okechukwu commended the Corona Schools Trust Council, saying that the exposure was not only a valuable experience for the pupils; even as a parent, she learnt a lot from the questions that were asked.
Commenting on this year’s competition, the sponsor and member of the Corona Schools’ Trust Council, Dr. Myma Belo-Osagie said it was set up nine years ago to broaden the scope of students’ knowledge. “Corona has always maintained a reputation for academic excellence. But what we were lacking at the time was a sense of the world around us. We didn’t have much general knowledge and that was why we started this quiz- to help our students appreciate the importance of knowing what is going on outside of their particular bubble.â€
She lauded the evolving format of the quiz and also implored the pupils to take advantage of the knowledge and academic excellence being inculcated in them as they prepare to be ambassadors of the school.
Some of the highlights at the competition were choral performance, which was won by Corona Ikoyi. There were also impromptu speeches from students of Corona Secondary School, Agbara, who represented the school’s four houses: Crane, King Fisher, Heron and Weaver. Heron House won that category. A sole poetry was also performed by Shalom Emeka, a Corona Secondary School student. The five hour event was rounded up with prizes presentation for the best students in Corona’s annual second term general examinations.
Present at the quiz competition was the Chief Executive Officer, Corona School’s Trust Council, Adedoyin Adesina and the School’s Director of Education, Amelia Dafeta.
