Determined Clearwater Middle School students are celebrating their hard work, after giving up holiday time to tackle the IGCSE maths exams years earlier than their year Senior 2 counterparts.

Seventeen pupils at the East End School sat the exams in May, with deputy head boy, 14-year-old M3 student Jay-Quan Dill, attaining an A grade.

Four others who sat the exams earned C grades: head girl and two-years’ honours list student Busayo Salawu, plus Taj Donville-Outerbridge, Jordan Carlington and Chaella Bradshaw Douglas.

Proud principal Leyvette Robinson told The Royal Gazette: “I’m really excited, particularly because it’s in maths, which has been an issue for us. All schools are trying to get our children succeeding in maths.”

Clearwater staff are “proud of the way all the students embraced the challenge, submitted themselves to many, many hours and days outside of the regular school day to study for the examination”, she said.

“We’re indebted to the passionate and enthusiastic teaching of Michelle Laylor. She sacrificed countless hours and holidays to work with the students, to get their confidence and skill levels to the required point to sit the examinations.”

The IGCSE examinations, administered by Cambridge International, aren’t issued with their own passing grades. The scale runs from A* through G, with U signifying “ungraded”.

Many of Bermuda’s exam-aged students have struggled with maths in recent years, causing the Ministry of Education to intensify its focus on the performance of middle school students.

The 2012/2013 academic year marked the Island’s fourth with the Cambridge International Examinations curricula implemented across the primary, middle and senior levels of the Bermuda public school system in English, maths and science.

Worldwide, the IGCSE examinations are typically sat by 16-year-olds. In most contexts, a C grade is viewed as a pass. Many of the other Clearwater students made “a good showing, with marks of D and E”, Ms Robinson said.

“We had some students thinking ‘I don’t know if I can do it’, but they looked on it as an opportunity and they buckled down to it.”

The five students who got marks of A through C also achieved Ministry of Education standards of three to six on the six-point scale of the Checkpoint exams in English, maths and science.

It marks the second year that Clearwater has offered early exams to its M3 and M2 students, and the initiative takes a commitment from parents as well, who must cover the cost of the exams out of their own pockets.

Last year, eight students were put forward for maths, and three passed: two with C grades, one with a B.

The school hopes to expand its early IGCSE options in the coming academic year, with middle school students taking on the English exams as well.

Jay-Quan’s “ecstatic” mother Tanisha Smith said her son had been “committed to do it, so I supported him — I encourage him to keep trying and he keeps doing it”.

Jay-Quan, who was just 13 when he sat the exams, admitted being nervous at first.

“I honestly didn’t think I was going to do well, because it’s a senior exam. It turned out amazing. I didn’t think I was going to get an A. My goal was a B, so I was in shock.”

The Warwick teen, who admitted disliking maths in primary school, now counts it his favourite subject. Asked if he had plans to harness his skill for numbers, Jay-Quan said: “When I grow up, I want to be an accountant or an actuary.

Giving up his holidays for extra studying was “a challenge, but I got used to it”, he added. “I actually am glad I gave up Saturdays and Easter break. I would have never been able to get the grade I got.”