The Academy of Excellence program was designed for a small group of school students that live within the area of Inayawan. We gave the opportunity to the children who were already sponsored to join this program, as we are running it as a pilot program before we expand it to include children from all the areas. We selected the students that were basically at the bottom of their class, which seemed foolish to teachers when we presented the idea. In fact we chose students that were failing.

Our vision for this program was to take the children that were failing at school, who were most likely to drop out and turn them around. Building their self esteem by placing them in an environment where they are valued and totally encouraged.

As part of our planning aspect of the program we investigated each child’s learning and living circumstances so that we knew everything we could about each child. This was critical to the design and implementation of the program. We meet with each of the teachers and principal that the students encounter, which was very informative for our team. During a luncheon for them we strongly encouraged them and investigated some of their challenges and struggles within the school system. We felt that by ministering to the teachers this would in turn help our children. As a result of this consultation with the school we have commenced a mass feeding program for the children once a week in order to address the issue of malnutrition in the school. As far as we have been informed there are 3500 children attending the public school at Inayawan and out that 300 children are registered as malnourished.

Our whole focus for the children that enter our classroom each day is … fun fun fun and encouragement encouragement encouragement. We have awards and prizes for the children for just about everything from turning up to sitting down. Success breeds Success and we are seeing this occur before our very eyes. Our dedicated enthusiastic team help the students learn their multiplications and improve their English speaking skills. Our students are very excited at our computer literacy program where they get a chance for hands on experience with computers, something that their classmates are not yet able to access. Each day they receive a plate loaded with food … which for most of them, they eat some and save the rest for their siblings!

Since our commencement we are already receiving reports of the children’s progress and that the teachers are seeing a marked improvement not just in the children’s marks but in their overall attitude towards school and life!!! How awesome is that? This is very encouraging for our team, but in all honesty it not unexpected. We can see the children slowly improving in their academics but more markedly in their overall attitude. At the beginning of the program they were very shy, slow and did not even know their complete multiplications. Now they are eager to come into class … they have more energy and are achieving well in our tests and challenges.

We look forward to having the resources to expand this program so that we can cater for the most likely to fail children and place them in a loving and nurturing environment so that they too can reach their God given talent.