You prefer to start a nice school day with a well-filled stomach. Unfortunately, especially in these difficult times, this is not possible for all young people. Practical College Zoetermeer has taken matters into his own hands!
“We noticed that quite a lot of young people came in without having had breakfast,” explains Han van Beek, director of the pre-vocational primary and secondary school. “Our mentors noticed it too. But we see the numbers increasing, for whatever reasons.”
All together
Han and his colleagues brainstormed how to tackle this problem. “When our colleague Wahieda Jiaw heard this, she immediately had an idea,” says Han. Wahieda: “Together with my husband and another person, I lead the volunteer organization Een Glimlach, so I saw a good match to set up a breakfast service twice a week with this foundation. Because I work at Praktijkcollege Zoetermeer myself, I see and hear the students. I know some are having a hard time. We are then a familiar face for them.”
“Thanks to the volunteers and donors of the foundation and help from our school itself, we were soon able to get started,” says Wahieda. “But local entrepreneurs also help. We get bread from Dirk and the supermarket and butcher Harput also cooperate. That does us so good!”
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Good luck
The school deliberately offers breakfast to all students. With this they want to prevent stigmas about who can and cannot afford breakfast. “The first breakfast took place on November 8. The night before I thought it was a bit exciting, because they are still tough teenagers,” says Wahieda. “But they came in in the morning, gave Han a high five or a boxing and walked on to the auditorium where breakfast was ready. Everything has gone up, so that’s a good sign.” The school hopes that this joint breakfast may become a fun new tradition.
The students at the center
It is not surprising that this particular school introduces such a breakfast service. “We offer every student a chance here,” explains Han. “At our small-scale practical school we have more than enough teachers, so that the students at Praktijkcollege Zoetermeer are always central and are adequately supervised. We know what’s going on, whether it’s negative or positive. Everyone knows each other, which is nice.”
Come and meet us
Are you curious whether Praktijkcollege Zoetermeer is something for you or your child? On Friday evenings 18 November and 10 February there will be another Open House. You can also register for one of the ‘School in Business’ afternoons, so you can experience an everyday day at the school. Useful! Read more about it on the website Practical College Zoetermeer and register.