forgood logo
story main

Rose Act Saturday School

Learning,Cake and Camp- All part of the Rose Act -Experience

The perception that young school-going children are not interested in learning and would rather play computer games and hang out at the mall certainly does not apply to most of the learners at Rose-Act Saturday School. These youngsters from Alex are definitely showing a keen interest in learning and improving their school grades, even volunteering to attend extra sessions after formal classes are over on Saturdays. The School’s principal, Louise Cameron explains, “Spelling is one of the most important aspects of learning English. Apart from spelling words correctly, students improve their vocabulary and use of the language this way. Rose-Act has been running a Spelling Bee after school for a couple of years and the response has always been reasonable, but this year something changed. Now we have 124 students taking part regularly. We use three classrooms which are all choc-a-block! The students take a spelling list home each week and the following week they are tested on the words. This entire exercise is voluntary, so we are delighted with this new attitude on their part.” On the back of this success, Rose-Act also recently started voluntary spelling tests after school. Like the Spelling Bee, the staff was inundated with students, more than seventy of them, wanting to test how well they knew their words! Another innovation this year has been a loyalty points system for students. “Students get points for a range of things during the school year. These include excellent attendance, bringing the correct stationery to class, wearing their school t-shirt, taking part and achieving success in the voluntary activities after school (such as the Spelling Bee), general knowledge quizzes and a Multiplication Whiz. They also get points for attending the Holiday Club in the Easter holidays,” explains Louise. These points are accumulated and students who earn more than the average number of points for the school as a whole are invited to Rose-Act’s Annual Camp in September; one of the highlights of the year and an event which every student aspires to attend. “Students getting the highest number of points in each grade are also rewarded at the Awards Day in December, where trophies are given as well as shopping vouchers, which are highly prized,” says Louise. There are also, from time to time, ad hoc celebrations. “Recently a particular class had full attendance for two consecutive weeks, a highly unusual occurrence. To reward them we gave them a huge cake, which caused great excitement,” said Louise. All in all, Rose-Act is having an excellent year and making a difference to the lives of hundreds of young Alex residents.

Other stories

Get inspired!

We’ll send you news, national and international campaigns and exciting ways to give back.