Children in Tredegar Park Benefit from Three-Week Summer Camp

This year’s summer holidays were not filled with the customary fun and games for some 100 children from the community of Tredegar Park in St. Catherine.

Rather, they were involved in a deeply engaging three-week vocational summer camp, which was held from July 6 to 24, at Tredegar Park All-Age School.

The annual camp, which targets youngsters, aged six to 12 years old, is an initiative of the Tredegar Park Benevolent Society, and is supported by the Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP), a social intervention initiative  of the Ministry of National Security.

This year, the children were exposed to remedial education, sports, Bible study, and behavioural modification programmes, as well as the creative and performing arts.

These activities were geared towards building the youngsters’ self-esteem, while teaching them respect for authority, and camaraderie.

The programmes were delivered by eight teachers in the programme, some of whom previously resided in the community.

Camp Coordinator, Valerie Williams, says this year’s engagement was more structured, and involved more activities than last year’s staging.

“The programme was packed with life skills and practical content that the students could apply to their lives. We are truly blessed this year to engage the students in this manner,” she states.

Ms. Williams adds that the camp was a response to needs identified in the community, through other initiatives such as assistance provided for Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) students; reading programme for children at the primary level; and the homework centre.

“I think with the partners that we had on board this year, it has been an improvement, and I consider it a success,” Ms. Williams tells JIS News.

Proud Camp Facilitator, Correctional Officer, and Guidance Counsellor, Josephine Young, shares similar sentiments.

“We got the children to think more and to be bold. What I admire most is the fact that we worked together to create more integrated lesson plans for the programme. We did not just focus on our (respective) areas of specialty, instead we did a follow-up of what the previous teacher did,” she says.

This, Ms. Young says, helped the children to better grasp the material delivered to them for the camp’s duration.

She also highlights the children’s positive interaction with representatives from the security and justice sectors, the Restorative Justice (RJ) Unit, Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), who also participated.

“This is one of the most marvellous things that happened in the programme and they were able to demonstrate (via role play) to us that they understood fully what was imparted to them,” she says.

The campers were all happy to perform sign language, poetry, and songs they learnt.

Thirteen-year-old Rajay Mattison says it was an exciting experience for him, noting that the lessons learnt will help him, specifically in the visual arts programme at his school.

“I was exposed to poems and the arts and it was an enjoyable experience. I learnt a lot of new things so that, when back to school, my brain can develop even more,” he shares.

Meanwhile, President of the Tredegar Park Benevolent Society, Christopher Blake, notes that, through dialogue with the parents and children, he realised how receptive they were of the camp’s activities being more widespread this year.

“We will be launching a parenting club to expose persons to better parenting skills and practices. We realise that parents need to be more actively involved in their children’s upbringing, and the Benevolent Society will respond accordingly,” he tells JIS News.

The CSJP assisted the Benevolent Society by identifying product sponsorship from several key stakeholders.

They include:  Food for the Poor; Seprod Limited; GraceKennedy; World Brands, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC); Consolidated Bakeries; Burger King; Poly Foods Limited; Very Amazing Products; Massy Distribution; Jamaica Producers; Facey Commodity Limited; Jamaica Biscuit Company; Caribbean Producers Jamaica; Crystal Bakery; and the Member of Parliament for Eastern St. Catherine, where Tredegar park is located, Denise Daley.