Bermuda Parent Bermuda Parent Fall 2019 | страница 17

PERSONALISED LEARNING Bermuda Centre for Creative Learning BCCL was created for children starting at age 7, who have learning differences and learn best in a non-traditional environment that facilitates each student’s individual learning style. learning difficulties were misunder- stood, she found others similar to her. “The people here, they feel like my family because they take care of me and I take care of them and we all have the same things going on,” said Kelsey. Cindy Corday, BCCL Co-founder, believes that many children who are in educational settings without proper support, learn to survive by developing coping skills; behaviours such as acting out and disrupting the flow of lessons, which disguises their learning chal- lenges. When this cycle continues it impacts a child’s self-esteem and other students within the same class feel it as well. “Kelsey came to BCCL with coping mechanisms to help her avoid doing school work, and most impor- tantly she was anxious that she was not able to read at grade level. With consistent guidance from her teach- ers and ensuring that she had speech and language therapy built into her personalized learning programme, Kelsey’s personality and overall feel- ings towards school changed dramati- cally,” added Ms Corday. Maths is Kelsey’s favourite subject because she “can understand num- bers”. Although she’s also found a love for comic books, particularly Marvel Comics. The structure of the school creates learning programmes to sup- port students in their individualised learning goals. “The children have a safe environment that lets them find their voice and feel comfortable to express themselves,” said Ms De Silva. Kelsey now lists conquering chapter books, having the confidence to speak in front of groups and being more emphatic toward her peers, as her biggest accomplishments since starting at BCCL Outside of school she enjoys play- ing hockey and volleyball and working on her community service project for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Accord- ing to her mum, she has no problem letting people know that she has a learning challenge. “It doesn’t mean she can’t learn, she just learns differ- ently,” she said. BCCL follows the UK National Curriculum, as well as the project-based International Primary and Middle Years Curriculum. Students work at their own academic level in a personal- ized learning programme. To expand their enrollment, BCCL has moved into a new purpose-built site at Cedar House, on Cedar Avenue in Hamilton. Bursaries are available for families who qualify. Visit their website: www.bccl.bm to learn more. Prior to enrolling at BCCL, students are required to be assessed on island or away and have been diagnosed with learning differences, such as dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, ADHD and other language-based disorders. BCCL is recognised as a private school by the Bermuda Ministry of Education. Contact us Bermuda Centre for Creative Learning 41 Cedar House North Cedar Avenue Hamilton, Bermuda HM 12 Telephone [phone] Email [email protected] Website www.bccl.bm Charity #985 mybermudaparent.com 15