Teacher Tevonille Dunchie assists primary school pupils during the homework support activity at Queen Wilhelmina Library on Thursday, February 4.
SABA--The Executive Council has approved funding to continue the afterschool activities at Queen Wilhelmina Library in The Bottom. Also approved was funding for the annual Spelling Bee and Book Week.
The reading programme, homework support, math support and the Dutch, English and Spanish classes can now continue for primary schoolchildren at the revamped library. These activities are offered to all Sacred Heart Primary School pupils on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
“It is important to promote these activities at the library for children in the community who need extra help with homework and reading. The language classes cater to children who are interested in learning a second language and also help improve their language skills,” said public entity Saba policy advisor Rosa Johnson, who filed the subsidy request.
“We are very happy with the funding. The children need this extra support. We had the project in the past three years under the ‘Kansen voor alle Kinderen’ (‘Opportunities for all Children’) and we are grateful that we can now continue with the approved funding from the BES(t)4 Kids programme. The funding is until June, and we hope we can get it extended after that,” said library director Joanna Simmons.
Math support will be part of the programme, as many children have difficulties with this subject. The “Math is fun” activity during the past summer was a success. With the continued funding, math support will now take place every Saturday afternoon.
The activities have been successful overall, and especially Saturday has been popular, with parents and children visiting the library together. The activities are offered free of charge and led by a professional in that field of expertise. The library is open to the public on Saturday morning for book rentals or visits from 9:00am to 12:00pm.
The library had also requested financial assistance to organise this year’s Book Week in May and the Spelling Bee in December. Both activities are very popular among students and as they serve an educational purpose, the public entity decided to grant this request as well.
