More students to take part in 2nd Fun With Newspapers Adventure Camp

Singapore, 1 June 2004 – The second Fun with Newspapers Adventure Camp, organised by The Press Foundation of Singapore, will see a bigger group of students taking part in the 3-day-2-night event next week.

A total of 250 secondary one and two students from 17 schools have signed up for the camps, the first from June 7 to 9, and the second from June 10 to 12.

The first series of camps took place during the March school holiday, with participation of some 200 students from 14 schools .

Conducted by SPARKc @ Marine Parade Outward Bound Centre for Family and Children, East Coast Parkway, the camps provide a unique experience for students to discover the usefulness of newspapers as a source of
information, education and entertainment, away from the classroom.

During the camps, the students will attend interactive newspaper learning workshops conducted by mass communications lecturer Dr Cherian George, a former journalist with The Straits Times.

Through a series of five sessions involving story-sharing, conversation and treasure hunts, Dr George aims to develop in students a greater appreciation of newspapers as a source of important and interesting stories, as well as give them pointers on practical information, how to navigate the daily newspaper and select stories to read. He will also touch on the need to think critically about the information and views being offered.

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 provides a conducive learning environment for the participants.

The programme also includes outdoor adventure activities, such as rock climbing, abseiling, the flying fox and a mini expedition to Pulau Ubin where the students will go on a trek and construct river rafts.

Facilitated by a team of professionally-trained, full-time instructors from SPARKc, these challenging outdoor adventure activities will seek to develop in the students’ a “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.

The Fun with Newspapers Adventure Camp 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

Issued by Press Foundation of Singapore

For more information, please contact:

Eric Ching
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.