Having started in the November, each of the schools completed their 1st term examinations on December 8th. We also held our Nine Lessons & Carol Service on December 7th, an annual program to commemorate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Friday, December 15th, heralded the commencement of the Christmas break for all the schools, and a CTA Meeting was held on the Saturday, December 16th. Following this meeting with the parents of the pupils and the community stakeholders, the Junior Secondary School team distributed report cards to the parents to review their children’s work during the first term of this academic year. It is our custom to give out report cards to parents during the first term so that they can identify the strengths and weaknesses of their children, a strategy that encourages the parents to support their children’s studies at home, helping them to reduce the workload on the teachers. It also enables the teachers to operate more efficiently and avoid heavier, academic task workloads building up into the 3rd term, at a time when the class teachers would otherwise have the tasks of closing the school register, marking scripts and preparing report cards all happening simultaneously.
The Initiation for Poverty Action and Vision Action (IPA/VA) initiative, started on November 28th but suspended due to the unrest in Freetown, resumed its work on December 5th. This program aims to help school pupils with eyesight problems by providing them with spectacles, if their cases are serious, or referring them to eyesight treatment centres.
Additionally, we are delighted to be able to confirm that the school management team was able to pay salaries and stipends to the teachers and volunteers.
