It’s been a busy year so far at St Simon’s School!
This year there has been an increased focus on digital learning and on sport, particularly football, tag rugby (using equipment kindly donated by the Tag Rugby Trust), badminton, high jump, golf, and – of course – the ever-popular cricket.
St Simon’s has been increasing its learning resources this year with the help of Astragen, a Chennai-based organisation which supplies teaching resources to schools in India. Its representatives have trained St Simon’s teachers in the use of a range of new materials including DVD and video resources. The school is also expected to get high speed internet before the end of the year. This will have a big positive impact, including increasing the available teaching resources and platforms.
The new dormitory block is a wonderful addition to the school. At present the building has two levels, with the boys’ dormitory on the ground floor and the first floor for the girls’, with running water, showers and toilet blocks. Construction is currently in progress to add a third storey to the building, paid for by funds generously donated to Helping Point UK and Helping Point Canada. Once construction is complete, the boys’ dormitory will move to the third floor, allowing the ground level to become a multi-purpose dining and assembly hall to replace the building destroyed last year in the devastating Cyclone Titli.
St Simon’s celebrated India’s annual Teachers’ Day on the 5th of September. Pupils wrote essays about their teachers, their impact on them, and sang songs for them. Three new female teachers joined St Simon's staff recently, bringing the total number of teachers to 18. 95% of the teaching team are fully qualified teachers. The dedicated staff of St Simon’s School want to strengthen and empower their young people to fight poverty. The aim is to equip the children to stand on their own two feet so that in future they will be able to provide for themselves and their families and help transform their own communities.
This year, 10 pupils aged 14 to 15 passed their high school exam and will shortly start attending a government-funded college. Helping Point is very proud that every year some of St Simon’s pupils are able to progress to college to build their future career.