SOS Children’s Villages Romania launches a new education programme: SOS Planet After school. This is an inclusive programme, dedicated to all children being from 6 to 12 years old. Through this programme, children will be involved in activities tailored for their age, interest and abilities. They will be supported to complete their homework and to develop useful life skills. SOS Planet officially opens the doors for children starting from this autumn and it is located in one of the premises of SOS Children’s Village Bucharest.
The programme offers both before and after school services and it is designed according to SOS Children’s Villages Romania values. It is built on our over 26 years’ experience in supporting children and their families and therefore it supports children at risk to benefit from before and after school support together with other children from the local community.
Our main focus is on supporting children in gaining knowledge and developing new skills, according to their individual needs and potential. This is the reason why our extracurricular classes are organized in 5 main domains: algorithmic thinking, creativity, analysis; physical health and sports; foreign languages; relaxing activities, self-awareness; arts and crafts. Child participation is one of our most important focus and it will be reflected in our educational approach. Children will have their own organized consultation body named Children’s Voice and Choice.
“Our plan is for this place to be a welcoming one for children who would feel here like at their second home. SOS Planet is a place where each child is respected, listened to, where he or she is developing new abilities and expresses his or her opinions freely and openly. We also want to mark a new beginning in developing an education project which we want to grow up with the participation of children and for children. Our thanks go to parents and our partners who, once again, will trust and allow us to contribute together to support children in becoming quality and empathy equipped adults.” - Diana Podaru, Director of SOS Children’s Villages Romania.
For more than 26 years, SOS Children’s Villages Romania has been changing children’s future in Romania by offering a family to those who have lost theirs and have been supporting children at risk of separation to remain with their parents. Education programmes are complementary to these 2 main core programmes. Some of them are the two kindergartens in Bucharest and Cisnadie (Sibiu County) where over 700 children had been supported to gain more knowledge. Another education project is SOS Summer Camp in Cisnadie, a place where more than 4.500 children in alternative care or form vulnerable families had spent valuable time.
A very dear project to us was SOS Play Bus, a mobile ludic project, unique at the national level, which had reached more than 48.000 beneficiaries.
These are just some of the reasons which make SOS Planet our new commitment to children and the community.