2020 Session Begins

Its a start of another PYP session. Last year was awesome, you can find our last post about it here, we believe this year is going to be extra awesome.

Since the end of last session, so much preparation has been made towards making this 2020 session an even bigger success and we took into account every aspect of the project including welcoming our prospective students and orientating their parents during annual registration/orientation day. This event marked the beginning of the 2020 session and it was a huge success.

Every year, before registration, invitation to primary 6 pupils of the 11 public primary schools in Festac Town are distributed, informing them about our annual Common Entrance Tutorial program and inviting them to register. This year was no different as letters were efficiently distributed 2 weeks before registration day by our PYP core team. 

We also organized interviews for potential interns who were selected from our alumni community. We selected former PYP students currently in SS1/SS2 in their respective schools, who will work with us as volunteer teachers catering to pupils in Hello Class (a special tutorial class focused on teaching students struggling to read and write English Language for free). After the interview we selected 10 teenagers who we believe can get the job done. Hello Class starts in March.

 In order to onboard new volunteers and align our entire volunteer team to the vision and goals of the 2020 program, we organized the 2020 Volunteer Orientation Meeting and invited an astute education consultant, Peace Bamidele to train the volunteers on social and emotional learning, emphasizing the roles teachers(volunteers and interns) play in the lives of their students, how they have to be attentive and observant with the pupils and how they are a role model to them. During the meeting, teachers were given the curriculum, time-table and other plans for the registration and tutorial session were discussed 

Orientation session with Peace Bamidele

On the 8th of February 2020, we opened the gate of Anchorage Field School, the venue for this year’s Tutorial to parents and pupils, to kickstart the 2020 PYP session. The slated time for the registration was 10:00 and while registering the pupils we had orientation for the parents. We were overwhelmed with a large number of parents and children but all volunteers worked collaboratively to manage the crowd and ensure it was a comfortable experience for parents and kids. At the end of the day we had a total of 123 registered students. 

Ongoing registration process

The process of registration involved the collation of each child alongside his/her parents/guardian’s data (each child is required to bring along a parent/guardian in order to register) and a reading test which is an assessment necessary to determine the reading capability of each pupil so as to provide focused learning and match him/her to a class relevant to his/her level of reading and understanding ability.

The following day, the registered pupils were assigned to their various grade and class teachers for their very first introductory class. At the end of the day, the students assembled and were taught the PYP pledge. “I am smart, I am intelligent, I am excellent, I have a sound mind, I am strong, I am brave….”, the kids repeated the words of the PYP pledge in response to the Director of Programs, Benita, with closed eyes and right hands to their hearts, slowly assimilating the words with hopes they become part of their reality. 

PYP kids reciting the PYP pledge

Retrospecting on all these events, hectic and exciting as they were, assure us that we began the new year on the right note giving us the motivation we need to meet every weekend excited to make impact through teaching, inspiring and nurturing young minds for a better future.