A dozen pupils at Mellor Primary School have become the latest to receive Rotary Star awards sponsored by the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus.
They were presented during a school assembly by club secretary and Youth Services lead Pam Spokes.
The scheme is designed to reward — and therefore encourage — schoolchildren to achieve at a high level and to demonstrate good citizenship.
Rotarian Pam Spokes with the winning Mellor Rotary Stars of 2017
The overall winner is six-year-old Amaana Ahamed. She was nominated by staff who said: “Amaana is a happy and friendly girl, who enjoys coming to school. She enjoys learning and always wants to learn more. She works well independently and in small groups. She is a pleasure to have in our class and is a fantastic role model to others. She likes to help the class teacher with jobs such as handing out letters and book bags. She makes sure the classroom is tidy.
Amaana enjoys helping her peers with tasks that are difficult. During playtimes and lunchtimes, Amaana makes sure that the children who are on their own, have a friend to play with. She encourages children to play with her and her friends. She always has a smile on her face!”
Winner Amaana Ahamed with her certificate and her class teacher Arti Lathiya
Certificates were also presented to:
Nine-year-old Umar Ameen. His nominating teacher wrote: “Umar wrote an excellent ‘I have a dream’ speech for the graduation ceremony. He was prepared to read it out in front of the whole audience of 500+ (he had typed it up and taken it home for practice over the weekend!). When we got there, he was let down by the organizers and didn’t get the chance to read. He took this very well and showed good strength of character and maturity by accepting the situation without a fuss.”
Ellie Ryles has been attending a pre-Literacy morning class and has 100per cent attendance. As a result of this intervention, her spelling scores have improved dramatically. She has shown a real determination to want to improve even though she finds Literacy difficult.
Rajnish Golar joined Mellor in the autumn term from Italy with a very limited understanding and speaking of English. He has worked extremely hard to develop all areas of his English and understanding. Rajnish now contributes to whole class discussions and has progressed in all areas of the curriculum. Rajnish never uses his lack of English as an excuse to avoid participating in challenging tasks.
Sunny Vara, like Rajnish, is 11 years old. His nominating teacher wrote: “Sunny has been excellent at helping children who have had problems understanding reasoning and arithmetic questions in maths. He is patient, listens carefully and explains himself clearly. He is a mature and caring individual.”
Rotarian Pam Spokes with winner Ankita Raj
Ankita Raju is only six years old. But, according to her teacher, she “is always helpful around the classroom without an adult guiding her. She is always organised and likes to support her peers if they need help. Ankita is always kind to all her peers and will always guide them to do the right thing both inside and outside the classroom.”
Georgia Ndigwa sang a solo part in the ‘Yes you can’ song at the ‘I have a dream’ graduation ceremony in front of other schools as part of the primary school’s choir.
Saffron Patel, says her teacher: “is an extremely helpful member of the class. She is very caring and is especially keen to help an SEN child in the class, translating information into Gujarati and helping her to participate fully in classroom activities. She will assist the child with reading, and also takes part in play interaction classes with her to help her with her social interaction.”
Vinouk Serasinghe joined Mellor from Germany in the autumn term. His teacher wrote: “Our British schooling was initially a shock to him as he had covered very little of the curriculum and the expectations are higher. Vinouk has worked extremely hard to adapt our style of learning and now excels in all areas of the curriculum.”
Raina Dineschandra Her teacher wrote: “Raina has put other children in her group before herself by supporting them with their learning. In particular, Raina has demonstrated kindness and thoughtfulness by supporting her learning partner who has learning difficulties. She always smiles and is willing to support anyone in the class.”
Sezan Ismail is said by his teacher to be “a quiet and sensible boy who has grown in responsibility this year. He applied for the role of a ‘door sign monitor’ and has been completing his daily task effectively. Each morning, Sezan selects a different child’s work and displays this on the door. He has an organised system to ensure everyone has their work displayed which has kept all of the children pleased and the class teachers have one less task to carry out each morning.”
Zohra Abubakar, says her teacher: “is a kind and caring friend to everyone in the class. She makes sure that she includes everybody in her games and has been particularly welcoming to a new member of the class. She has made sure that the new child has somebody to play with and has been keen to show her round the school.”
