In the schoolyard of the Catholic Primary School De Regenboog in Zoetermeer, where it is still plenty of summer vacation, it is very busy on Wednesday morning. Children park their bikes or walk on the basis of their parents to the entrance, where they are met by school director Anna Vreugdenhil. A student extends her arms for a hug. Inside they get with a High Five Greetings by Charif Bouhaddou, organizer of the summer school where the children come for. A girl of the age of eleven keeps a smaller child by the hand. “Hi Meester Charif. Are we going to cook today? I brought my sister, she would also like to participate.” “Nice,” says Bouhaddou. “Yes, we are going to cook today.”
Dalli (10) will definitely be again tomorrow, he says. He wants to go to school every day
In fact, it is not intended that children from groups 1 and 2 also come to the summer school. The program, which lasts two weeks, is intended for children from group 4 (between 7 and 8 years old). But at De Regenboog, a school with many children who have fled from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine, they are not making it difficult today. If this student is not allowed to take her sister, she might have to look after her at home and she cannot come herself. And that would be a shame, says Vreugdenhil. Because these children, most of whom live in the apartment buildings around the school, usually do not go on holiday and urgently need some activities and fun with peers. Get rid of the summer grind. “And not only that. The extra school days in the summer ensure that the knowledge that the children gained in the past school year does not drop.”
Children of the summer school cook and do craft assignments.
Photos Bart Maat
The idea of opening the school in the summer arose six years ago. Vreugdenhil had to pick up something at school during the spring break and was accumulated by students on the square. “They asked: teacher, will the school open? They were so disappointed that the door remained closed.” The school is a safe place for the children.
They translate everything for each other
Meerzicht, full of high -rise buildings from the seventies, is known as a neighborhood with social problems. The majority of the inhabitants have low -paid work or benefits. The crime rates are higher than in other residential areas of the city. “There is stress in many families,” says Vreugdenhil. “We take this into account.” There are children who have traumas. “If we have a party, we will never hang balloons. Imagine one breaking. The bang can be for a child one trigger are.”
Rolling model
There is little noticeable of those problems today. Helping parents in the auditorium with sandwiches for lunch while the children get lessons in language and math. Not from their own teachers, but from employees of Talents van Morgen, a foundation that also provides after -school activities and homework guidance at school and in a community center nearby. “I don’t want to use our own teachers,” says Vreugdenhil. “They have to rest well during the holidays.” Like many students, the employees of Talents of Tomorrow also have a migration background. Bouhaddou would like to be a role model for the children, he says. What touches him is how they help each other at school. “They translate everything for each other.”
Group 4 makes stories sums. The teacher reads: “A cleaning company has to wash 73 curtains. They have already done 22. How many curtains do they still have to wash?” Not all children have understood what she says. They are still learning Dutch. “Wait a minute,” says the teacher. “I make a different sum of it. You have received 73 sweets. And you have already eaten 22 sweets. How much do you still have?” Immediately fingers go up in the air. “51!” Calls a boy. “Tasty, sweets. I always eat sweets!”
Talents of Talenten van Morgen provide the lessons of the Summer School.
Photos Bart Maat
Because there is a journalist in the classroom, they will look at the Jeugdjournaal. US President Donald Trump appears in the picture. Then it is about the forest fires in Spain. “Now you can write your own news item,” says the teacher. Daisam (8) translates the assignment for children who did not understand. “I can’t write,” says a Syrian boy who has not been in the Netherlands long. The teacher understands. “You can also draw.”
Children’s parrot
After lunch there are creative activities. In the auditorium, children cut vegetables for tacos. They can take turns in the kitchen. The teacher comes up with games to let the wait last less. “We’re going to whisper a word. Do you know that?” She whispers the word in the ear of sister that came along. The girl says the word out loud. That is not the intention. The children are double laughing. Then again. The word goes around the circle. “Children’s parrot!” the last one calls it. The teacher looks surprised. “It was children’s chocolate!”
First the school meals threatened to be paid anymore, then the money for after -school activities, and now this again
The program ended at two o’clock. Dalli (10) will definitely be again tomorrow, he says. He wants to go to school every day. “But we are not allowed on Friday and Saturday and Sunday,” he says. Vreugdenhil would prefer to keep the school open all vacation. But she is already happy if she will receive money from the municipality for the summer school next year. The budget that the municipalities of the government get to eliminate educational disadvantages has been cut by 10 percent. The school director sighs. “First the school meals threatened to be paid anymore, when the money for after -school activities, and now this again. But that our summer school must continue, is certain. Then I arrange it in a different way.”
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