Story & photo: Camille Daughma
Within Burngreave recently, a lot of focus has been on the issue of exclusion. We have challenged organisations as to what they intend to do. While they all have a role to play, should they be the first port of call? Have parents and teachers been made to feel so powerless that the answer must come from outside?
Harvard University once did a study to illustrate the effect of positive expectancy on children. Three teachers and a group of children were selected at random. The teachers were told they had been selected as the best ones to teach a group of children with high IQ. They were advised not to inform the pupils about this but just to work with them through the year. Needless to say, at the end of the year, the children performed their best. The moral of the story is that if we have high expectations of our children, 9 times out of 10 they live up to them.
Recently the SADACCA Study Support group went on a trip to the Houses of Parliament and the Science Museum in London where the children were able to make sense of the country’s history and political system, planting seeds of aspiration that, one day, they will be able to sit in the House of Lords.
The trip to the Science Museum brought science to life, helping them to understand how it relates to everyday living and describing opportunities for creating solutions for tomorrow’s problems. These activities help develop positive images in the minds of the young people and help them realise they can make their community and their country a better place to live in.
“The children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way”. (Whitney Houston).
SADACCA Study Support For children aged 5-16 year Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 4.30pm-7.30pm Contact Carmelita on 275 3479