Hope for Children

It’s Monday morning at 9am, and around 60 children are lining up excitedly outside the HFC office. There is a long line of both boys and girls snaking along the length of the building, punctuated by many sets of beady eyes and eager smiles. These students are roughly half of our 100 summer school participants who are enrolled in the school holiday program to improve their academic and social development during the two month summer break.  

 Summer school is three hours each morning for the younger children, and three hours after lunch for the second group of older children. Participants are either regular users of the Youth Centre, or are under performing at school and need intensive English tuition.

Children are provided an hour of English lessons, an hour of reading and an hour of games or computers. Breakfast and a mid morning snack is provided to all participants to keep their brains functioning and energy levels up. 

We have an army of dedicated volunteers who arrive each day to organise the children into groups, take attendance registers and provide snacks. These volunteers are the key to the success of the program, and we truly couldn’t operate without them.

We are only two weeks into Summer School and excitement levels are extreme! The teachers and volunteers are focusing their attention on ensuring the children are benefitting from their activities, with the intention to improve their academic performance – primarily English – ahead of the coming school year in September.

Students in Class A race to finish their ‘matching pairs’ game first.

Girls in the program enjoy the garden and a snack between classes. 

Mr Venour, one of our resident English teachers, takes an afternoon Comprehension class in an open-air classroom.