Orphanage

Introduction:-

The “St. James Orphan House (SJOH) Project” as it is today was founded in September 2011 by Renaissance Education Foundation (REF) to support the Orphans and officially opened in the October 2011 of this year.

During discussions with Josephine (Head Mother) expressed her concern for the condition of some of the orphan children. As a result of this interest Head Mother was invited to visit a local area caring particularly for children and mothers (Widows). It was in this one dingy room that she became fully aware of the desperate plight of abandoned children in Egypt. The conditions she witnessed two baby boys and one girl baby living in imprinted itself on her heart.

From this moment on the need of these children are preyed on her mind. Josephine became a regular visitor to the area and decided a special home needed to be opened for these children.

Initially opening with a handful of children in rented accommodation, the project is growing day by day.

There are so many ways to help a SJOH child and they need that help now! Please do not put off till tomorrow what you could do today. SJOH has always been wholly reliant on people’s generosity and you can make all the difference to these children’s lives.

Change through Education Project:

St.James Orphan House (SJOH) has a great concern and interest towards formal and technical (skill) education. We believe that education is the basic right of every human being and without education we can not bring a change we wish for.

Therefore, we want to support the under privileged children to get formal education and become a useful and productive citizens of the world. We would like to support them financially for books & stationary, uniform, shoes, fee,shelter and food. We will also take care for their health and will have proper health checkup twice a year.

The education awareness building program will be carried out throughout the year by organizing and arranging meeting/group discussion and seminars with the community of the targeted areas. This activity will help to assess the interest and need of the community and youth of the target areas.

Rational:-

Change Through Education project is aimed to provide financial and awareness raising opportunity among the people of Pakistan. Particularly Christian students and families will be targeted whereas students from other communities would also be benefited. Christians are the largest minority in Pakistan. They live in all parts of the country. Majority of the Christian community live in villages, working in brick factories and are illiterate. Even in the cities about 0.5% literate. They do not have good jobs due to illiteracy; therefore, they are facing constant financial crises. Majority of the people involve their children in early ages to support their parents to meet the necessities of life. So most of the children do not enjoy their child hood, schooling, playing games etc. They are compelled to work with their parents to meet the daily needs of life. The Orphan Children are in the special Focus of SJOH. See the article at express news by clicking on the link below.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/325758/sheltering-the-marginalised-the-pakistani-mother-teresa/

Life is becoming harder and harder in Pakistan for everyone in general and specifically for labourers and daily wagers. Prices of the edible goods and commodities are rising up and up while the daily wages are not enough to meet the necessities of life. It is not easy for one person to feed rest of his or her family members (children and old persons).

To promote a healthy and peaceful environment (SJOH) feels that at local and international level it is necessary to support and strengthen the under privileged to lead a prosperous and respectful life.

SJOH feels that the best way to bring a change in the society is education. We believe that education is the only source of change at all levels.

Children of the christian community do not have enough resources and opportunities to go to school and get formal or non formal education. And the current situation and every day rising in prices of daily use commodities creating more and problems for the people who are leading their lives on daily wages.

(SJOH) encourages those students who are getting education even in the worst circumstances and their families and time to time motivate parents and students through formal discussions and activities like parents day and other social gatherings.

We have planned to launch a pilot project Change through education in District Lahore and its surroundings. We have targeted 120 students from our targeted schools/ working areas. Change through education project is to encourage the Orphan students and their families to let them become a useful citizens of the world who may further develop and support his or her family to lead a prosperous and respectful life.

Objective:-

To aware, sensitized and empower young children about the role of education for respected and prosperous life.
To create an opportunity for underprivileged/Orphan children for getting formal education.
To support the needy children of the targeted area to get formal education to save their future.
To motivate parents/guardian through family visits and seminars to send their children to school for getting formal education to save their future as well as to bring a prosperous and peaceful change at family and community level.
To arrange medical check up for the student to avoid from any epidemic disease.

PARENTS

Parent Teacher Conference

Insert graphic displays of the number and percent of parents/guardians attending parent/teacher conference 2017-18

School	Year	Fall
Name	Year	#	%
Nursery School	2017-18	80	100%
Primary School	2017-18	300	100%
Middle School	2017-18	156	100%
High School	2017-18	126	100%
Higher Secondary School	2017-18	306	100%

Parent Involvement Policy

The Board of Education believes that the education of children is a joint responsibility, one it shares with the parents of the school community. To ensure that the best interests of the child are served in this process, a strong program of communication between home and school must be maintained.

The parents have the right to participate in the education of their children as well as the ultimate responsibility for their children’s in-school behavior, including the behavior of students who have reached the legal age of majority, but are still, for all practical purposes, under parental authority.

The Board recommends that the following activities be implemented to encourage parent-school cooperation:

parent-teacher conferences to permit two-way communication between home and

school meetings of staff members and groups of parents of those students having special abilities, disabilities, needs, or problems special events of a cultural, ethnic, or topical nature which are initiated by parent groups, involve the cooperative effort of students and parents, and are of general interest to the schools or community.

open houses in District schools to provide parents with the opportunity to see the school facilities, meet the faculty, and sample the program on a first hand basis

Each school in the District shall hold an open house at least annually.

For the benefit of children, the Board believes that parents have a responsibility to encourage their child’s career in school by:

supporting the schools in requiring that the children observe all school rules and regulations, and by accepting their own responsibility for children’s willful in-school behavior; sending children to school with proper attention to their health, personal cleanliness, and dress;

maintaining an active interest in the student’s daily work and making it possible for the student to complete assigned homework by providing a quiet place and suitable conditions for study;
reading all communications from the school, signing, and returning them promptly when required;
Cooperating with the school in attending conferences set up for the exchange of information of the child’s progress in school.

Summary of Parent Involvement

Renaissance Education Foundation Higher Secondary School places a high priority on parent involvement, as evidenced by the funding of the Family Connection Program. Traditionally, parent involvement is high in the lower grades and tends to drop off as children get older.

The Family Connection maintains a volunteer-staffed office at each building. Parents are encouraged to call with general questions and often work on projects for staff and teachers. A volunteer form goes out in our back-to-school mailings, offering at least 20 ways to stay involved at each building. The Family Connection Office continues to strive to increase parent involvement on all levels from “volunteers” to “partners”. As an example, each volunteer form offers the option to serve on a school committee during the year. Administrators have drawn from that list many times this year, including soliciting parent input on updating the student policy manual at SHS. Nineteen parents attended different meetings and played a major part of the decision making process.

Renaissance Education Foundation Higher Secondary School emphasized school to home communication via many forms, including:

Written communication is by regular building newsletters and our local newspaper. The REF Journal now employs an Education Reporter working with all school districts in the county. In addition, we provide information on special student achievements and activities in a weekly “Chalk Talk” column. Many informational and reminder flyers are sent home with students. Individual “Good News” postcards are mailed home with personal notes from teachers. Emphasis is placed on making the first communication with parents positive.

Face-to-face opportunities are Open Houses and “Back to School” . This year we were successful in increasing attendance at school functions by “piggybacking” events. The idea is to give busy parents more than one reason to attend. For instance, PAC meetings and book fairs were held in conjunction with fall open houses. Orientation meetings are held in the spring for parents and students to help prepare those students who will make a transition to a new building in the fall.

Telephone lines are maintained for Family Connection Offices with recorded information on upcoming events, plus the opportunity to leave messages with any questions. With district technology upgrades, there are now four phones lines in campus contact between parents and school management and will be expected in every classroom, so phone contact between parents and teachers will be improved.

Computer technology has improved communication for those with internet access. Power School is a valuable tool for monitoring their child’s attendance and work habits, along with the opportunity to e-mail teachers immediately with any questions. School calendars, daily announcements and Skills Tutor, offering homework help for students (and parents) working at all levels are also available from the REF’s web-site www.reduf.org

This year the Family Connection maintained a page on the web-site offering a “news” page that was updated frequently, along with links to information for each building, parent calendars, and current volunteer options. Our News page featured summer hours for school libraries and computer labs, along with a link to local “Summer Fun and Learning Opportunities”.

Volunteer hours are logged at the Family Connection Office. Every effort is made to identify active volunteers, but there are areas such as individual field trips where volunteer hours are difficult to determine volunteers logged 1825 hours including working for the Athletic Boosters in the concession stand at home events, and are not included in the following.

REF Higher Secondary School newsletter, preparation and staffing the Family Connection office. REF Youth and Family office, assisted by the Family Connection office, sponsors several functions each year including a Progressive Parties. Hours were also counted in support in Conference, Leadership Workshops. So many activities at the campus take place after school hours that it is difficult to document all volunteers. Many volunteers assisted with the Music Classes, homecoming float assembly, school academic activities and presentations.

REF teams rank themselves on the indicators of academic Performance, indicators that are based on research and best practice. The culmination of this accreditation process is a report card, with letter grades (see below):

Parents Contribution/Scholarships:State the number and percentage of parents contribution in Renaissance Education Foundation (REF) School/college level. The financial challenges are still insurmountable for most students. Getting an educational need not be a privilege enjoyed only by the financially endowed. Instead, it should be an open door waiting for interested students from all walks of their life.

Students Enrollment in different Levels	# of Enrolled Students 2017-18	% of Enrolled Students 2017-18	Parents Contribution Rate % 2017-18	Scholarships to Enrolled Students 2017-18	% of Enrolled Students 2017-18	Passing Rate % 2017-18
Nursery School	80	12.08%	30.00%	70.00%	0	0
Primery School	300	45.31%	30.00%	70.00%	0	0
Middle School	156	23.56%	16.67%	83.33%	0	0
High School	126	19.05%	15.00%	85.00%	0	0
Higher Secondary School	306	18.30%	15.00%	85.00%		0
Total:	968

Foreign Scholarships

It is great pleasure to announce that ten students have been selected to receive Scholarship award of Rs.12000/- year from Italian kind hearted people. We are looking forward to have some more scholarships for most deserving students.

Process for Development/Alignment of English,Urdu,Islamiyat,

Math, Science(s), Computer Sciences and Social Studies:

Once every 6 years every core area receives a complete curriculum review and rewrite. A district team is assembled with Nursery-12 representation including classroom,

English Language

EL curriculum was reviewed in the 2006-07 REF year and implemented in the 2007-08 REF year.

Math

Math curriculum was reviewed in the 2006-07 REF year. Maps were revised and textbook selections were made: Nursery-2 will use an updated version of Everyday Math activities, 3-5 selected, 6-8 will use an updated Connected Math and 9-12 selected materials from textbooks.

Sciences (Physics, Chamistry, Bioalogy)

Science curriculum was reviewed in the 2007-08 REF year.

Social Studies

Social Studies curriculum was reviewed in the 2006-07 REF year. Maps were revised and textbook selections were made: Nursery-5 supplemented existing materials; the only new materials were adopted in 3rd grade. 6-12 selected materials from textbooks.

Urdu

Uddu curriculum was reviewed in the 2006-07 REF year and implemented in the 2007-08 REF year.

Islamiyat

Uddu curriculum was reviewed in the 2006-07 REF year and implemented in the 2007-08 REF year.

Computer Sciences

IT skilled activities based curriculum, Nursery-2, 3-5 selected activities and textbook “New jump start” recommended by the Board of Education, 6-8 will use an updated Connected computer books and 9-12 selected materials from textbooks.

Co-Curriculum Activities

v Education though Arts (ETA)

v Education through Music (ETM)

v Education through activities (ETA)

v Education through different projects (ETDP)

v Open House (OH)

v Annual Function (AF)

v Speaker session series (SSE)

The REF has always looking forward to invite national and International personalities to begin its Speaker Session Series to share ideas to make students, parents, faculty in their life. These efforts of the organization we believed will be able to make exemplar citizen in the society.

Equitable access to appropriate instruction in the academic curriculum:

The REF curriculum is required for all students, including special education. Through ongoing professional development and regular special education meetings, teachers are taught strategies for differentiation of curriculum ensuring that all students receive the same curriculum. Ongoing efforts to design curriculum maps will continue to refine the process.