RWP/MBP Grad Party 2019
Posted on October 8, 2019
I volunteer in many different areas in school, as many parent volunteers do, but one of my favourite activities remains the Reading Warriors Programme (RWP).
RWP is one of ACS Primary’s signature literacy support programmes, meeting the reading needs of Primary One and Two boys. It is helmed by a dedicated group of teachers from the English department and supported by a team of about 50 parent volunteers. Each of whom have to undergo specialised training by our very own in-house teachers before they can coach the boys. The boys come in for 5-10 minutes, every school day, during their recess time, to learn phonics and to read sight words or short stories as they progress.
It is a testament to the effectiveness of the programme, having the boys themselves recognise the benefits of being part of the programme and voluntarily running to the learning centre where the sessions are held each day! At the end of the two-year programme, that starts with basic phonics and ends with reading, comprehension and summary skills, the boys receive their graduation certificates and badges during a mini-graduation ceremony. Many of the graduates remember RWP fondly and often pop by to visit the teachers and coaches after they move on to the upper primary levels.
This year’s graduation party was held on 7th October with a cleverly-coined theme of Star Wars to celebrate our little “star readers”. One of our parent volunteers gamely dressed up as Darth Vader and gave the boys such a treat! The teachers had also prepared a light meal and fun-filled goodie bags for the boys. Our principal, Dr Irene Ng also invited a couple of boys to give an impromptu sharing of what they felt about the programme and both eloquently remarked how grateful they were to their coaches. Seeing the boys all grown up and graduating from the programme gave us parent volunteers such a sense of pride and fulfilment.
The school recently welcomed some trainee teachers visiting from other schools, to observe and learn how the programme is implemented and run. The visiting teachers commented that ACS Primary is very blessed to have such a sizeable group of parent volunteers, who believe in the cause and turn up faithfully to help the boys. We certainly couldn’t agree more!
