Thursday, August 06, 2009

King’s College STAR Help with Homework

KCL STAR volunteers continue to help refugee children in South London with their homework and play some games!

Written by Kathleen Day (KCL STAR)

At King’s College London STAR over the past four years we have strived to build a strong support base of volunteers and mentors at the Katherine Low Settlement, a community centre in South London.

KCL STAR has been contributing volunteers to the Refugee Home School Support Project, an already established project helping children from a refugee background in South London.

Every Wednesday two groups of young children aged seven to twelve come to the Katherine Low Settlement either by foot or on the minibus. Once the children arrive they are ushered into the café where Hana, the project manager, takes attendance and they have some fruit and juice and get ready for their homework and activity.

The project has been granted National Lottery Funding and for this reason some of the childrens work is monitored to see how they progress throughout the next two to three years. Their workbooks are based on similar work they may complete in school with the core subjects of maths, science, language and reading.

The volunteers of KCL STAR are there to help the children with their workbooks by providing one-on-one tutoring, as well as being a positive influence. Once the homework is finished there is an activity of some sort. It is usually art, sport or playing in the park.

This spring STAR National helped secure the funding for two special workshops for the kids: street dancing and drumming. It was an excellent experience for the children and really helped the project overall. The project also provides opportunities for the children to go on day trips to amusement parks and swimming centres.

The work that King’s College STAR contributes to the Home Schools Refugee Project is wonderful because volunteers are able to monitor the children they work with and see the difference they make. This difference encourages the volunteers to come back and continue to make a difference in the lives of the children they work with.

Posted by STAR team on 06/08/2009 at 12:46 PM
in Group News  

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