SHINE on Saturday Now in Folkestone!

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We’ve got great news; we’ve successfully launched a SHINE on Saturday project in a brand new area! With the support of the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust and UBS Optimus Foundation, SHINE has partnered with The Folkestone Academy to bring SHINE’s extra education initiatives to local children in the East Folkestone area. We’d love to share how well their first term of the project is going!

SHINE on Saturday provides students with hands-on, exciting learning that combines outside trips and creative lessons to expand and enrich the national curriculum. The Folkestone Academy, along with partnering schools in the area, have launched the project to help students reach their full potential both in their education, and beyond it.

All of our SHINE on Saturday projects have a key theme for each term. At Folkestone, the teaching staff have chosen superheroes for their first term’s theme, with children doing maths whilst on an inflatable assault course in their first week! They’ve also done experiments with dry ice, and made superhero smoothies – for which students created stories for their smoothie recipes, such as papaya giving the drinker the ability to fly!

The project has not only seen excellent engagement from the students in its first term, but is also already receiving positive feedback from parents. Folkestone Academy have recruited both children who are struggling with their schooling, and children who are doing well but don’t have access to the educational resources to help them do their best. Parents have fed back that they’re thrilled to see their children are getting access to extra time with their Teachers. Many of the children, who have excellent attendance at SHINE on Saturday, have low attendance during the usual school week. The time these students are now getting on a Saturday works to inspire their imagination, with their Teachers hoping that it motivates and engages them during the regular school week.

We’re looking forward to seeing how the project progresses throughout the year, and seeing the positive impact it’s having on children.

For more information about the Saturday programmes we run and the schools we partner with, you can visit this page.