Nearly 50 students from both Moose Jaw school divisions participated in a summer reading program this year, with the United Way providing money to support the initiative.
The United Way gave Holy Trinity $15,500 for the Summer Success Literacy Camp, an initiative designed to reduce the loss of reading skills in students who were reading below grade level at the end of June.
Forty-nine students from grades 1 to 3 participated, including youths from St. Agnes, Sacred Heart, Westmount and Prince Arthur.
Data from Holy Trinity shows that 87 per cent of students maintained or improved their reading levels, 71 per cent attended daily and 30 per cent were either First Nations or immigrants.
Furthermore, the program distributed 600 books to the students, provided 60 backpacks with school supplies and handed out 49 nutritious Good Food Boxes for breakfast.
Holy Trinity trustees received an update about the program during their recent board meeting. They also amended the 2021-22 budget to accommodate the funding for the reading initiative.
The United Way provides funding to Holy Trinity’s summer reading camps every year.
The school division has held this Summer Success Literacy Camp for the past seven years to support struggling students and give them “that extra shot in the arm” in July and August, explained education director Ward Strueby.
Holy Trinity offers camp spaces to families with children whose literacy skills could use a boost, but families must determine whether to accept or decline the invitation.
“What we sometimes see with students is, over the summer, their results dip a bit, and this just really helps those students stay at level — and even increase — so that when they start back in September, they’re coming to progress,” Strueby said.
Besides Moose Jaw, Holy Trinity holds similar summer reading camps in Shaunavon and Swift Current for students in those areas. The division also includes students from Chinook and Prairie South school divisions as part of a regional partnership.
The partnership includes hiring — and compensating — a classroom teacher to work with the students during the camp, which is two weeks long, he explained. The teacher monitors students’ reading levels and provides literacy materials for students to take home.
“And they help provide goals for families to continue to work with kids outside of the camp,” Strueby added.
It was great to offer these camps to families because it allowed them to continue learning throughout the summer, said Sarah Phipps, superintendent of learning. The camp also built confidence in young readers as they returned to school in September.
“The camp was 10 days total. With the focused attention from the staff over the two weeks, we saw many of our students maintain their current reading level (while) some showed growth in levels. We could also see their pride and confidence as they shared their books and activities with staff and families,” she continued.
The division has received plenty of positive feedback about the program from parents and staff since 2015, while students have also shared how much they enjoy attending the camps, Phipps said. An “awesome aspect” of the program is when kids can take home their books daily and share them with their families.
“Participating families were grateful for the opportunity (to attend). Every student had a family member attend the last day as a celebration of the completion of the program,” she added. “Many parents shared their thanks and appreciation for the program. Some even said they wished the camp was available every summer for their child.”
The next Holy Trinity board meeting is Monday, Sept. 19.
