Fun
With Newspapers Adventure Camp
Singapore,
8 March 2004 – Fancy climbing and abseiling down an artificial
rockwall or whizzing through the air on the flying fox to obtain clues
to solve newspaper story puzzles? Or working on a conservation project
for
Pulau Ubin with the help of newspapers?
These are
among the creative and exciting activities lined up for some 200 students
attending the “Fun With Newspapers” Adventure Camp to be held
during the school holiday next week.
Fully sponsored
by the Press Foundation of Singapore, the two 3-day-2-night camps, each
involving about 100 Secondary One and Two students from 7 different
schools, will be held from March 15 to 17 and from March 18 to 20.
Conducted
by SparkC @ Marine Parade Outward Bound Centre for Family and Children,
East Coast Parkway, the camps promise a unique experience for the participants
to discover the usefulness of newspapers as a source of
information, education and entertainment, away from the classroom.
With its
tree-hut accommodation and specially designed state-of-the-art facilities
and equipment, such as a 10-metre high Multi-Element Adventure Tower
and a 7-metre high Challenge Ropes Course, which have been customised
to meet the needs and safety of young children, the camp site ensures
a conducive learning environment for the participants.
The programme
includes a mini expedition to Pulau Ubin where the students will build
rafts, go on a trek, work on a conceptual conservation project for the
island using newspapers as a resource, and enjoy a night under the
stars as they learn to pitch and sleep in tents.
Facilitated
by a team of professionally-trained, full-time instructors from SparkC,
the camp programme also seeks to develop the students’ “can-do”
attitude, courage to try, curiosity to learn new things, sense of
commitment to team goals, and appreciation of the value of co-operation.
Mrs Sng
Ngoi May, General Manager of the Press Foundation of Singapore, said
young people are reading less newspapers these days because of distraction
from other sources such as television, cable networks, internet, DVDs,
radio and mobile phones.
“This
is a pity because the daily newspaper is a wonderful source for all
types of information. Knowing what news is and where to find it is a
necessity of modern-day life. Newspapers help students make connections
with the real world and with the communities in which they live. They
are an important tool in making our students lifelong learners and keeping
them current on events that shape their lives.
“We
hope to introduce the joy of reading newspapers through these fun-filled
camps and show the students how they can find gems of information in
newspapers.”
Veteran
journalists from various Singapore Press Holdings newspapers will speak
to the students during the camp and give tips on how to use the newspaper
as a learning tool at home and in the classrooms. They include Mr
Alan John, Night Editor of The Straits Times, Mr Peter Khoo, Vice-President
of The Straits Times Branding & Promotions, as well as journalists
Lim Fong Wei and Teo Woan Yee from Lianhe Zaobao, and Mohd Puad Ibrahim
from Berita Harian.
Response
from the schools to the camps has been very enthusiastic, so much so
that places for the next two camps planned for the school holiday in
June are fast filling up.
This series
of camps is the second initiative by the Press Foundation of Singapore
as part of its efforts to promote the appreciation of newspaper reading.
The Foundation organised a Teachers Conference on the Use of
Newspapers in Teaching and Learning in November 2003.
List of participating schools
Anderson
Secondary School
Anglican High School
CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh)
Greenview Secondary School
Holy Innocents’ High School
Nanyang Girls’ High School
Naval Base Secondary School
Ngee Ann Secondary School
Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary)
River Valley High School
Tampines Secondary School
The Chinese High School
Victoria School
Yuan Ching Secondary School
For more information, please contact:
Eric
Ching
Press Foundation of Singapore Limited
Tel: 6319-1280
Email: chingsm@sph.com.sg
About Press Foundation of Singapore
The Press Foundation of Singapore is a charity foundation set up in
January 2003 to help build a lifelong learning community that embraces
language enrichment, creativity, diversity, healthy living and sports.
Singapore Press Holdings has contributed $20 million to the Foundation.
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