Finishing Read for the Top

We are concluding our grant from Better World Books for Read for the Top. Three schools (one primary, two secondary) were unable to complete in 2015 for a number of reasons, but mainly because of a month long teacher strike in September and an early start to National exams in November.

On Monday we were in Emwatsi primary. The teachers usually shake their heads and tell us their children have difficulty, they are 'slow'. Of course this is not true. They have a normal distribution of intelligence. Where they lack is parental support and resources in the school. Once again the teachers were amazed at the way their children responded to the contest and shone with their commitment and comprehension. They all received school bags marked Read for the Top, and the winning teams received their own 'story book'. While we were doing the closing remarks those children were already deep into their new story.