Interact Logo

On Wednesday 3rd November, at 3pm at Westminster Academy (WA), the WA Interact Club will receive an award from Rotary International. This is the first time a school in North Westminster has been awarded Rotary recognition. WA Interact Club impressed Rotary International with the following:

1. Running  after school sessions to teach IT skills to neighbourhood senior citizens
2. Fundraising for international aid projects, raising £1200 for Medecin Sans Frontiere projects in the Horn of Africa and a micro credit financing project in Tanzania
3. Assisting with the teaching of literacy at WA

The WA Interact Club was started in 2008 and has grown enormously since. It is really popular at WA because it complements the Academy’s specialism of International Business and Enterprise and the theme of Global Citizenship. The Club allows students to meet and learn from experienced business people, many whose businesses sell products internationally.  The Club is presently only open to Sixth Formers, but there are plans to expand it to young students this year.

As well as receiving the RI Presidential Citation on 3rd November, members of the WA Interact Club will also be giving each Year 7 student an illustrated dictionary. These have been donated by the Rotary Club of Paddington as part of the Dictionary 4 Life Programme which has distributed 250,000 dictionaries world-wide. The Rotary Club of Paddington recognises that literacy is a fundamental right and it is part of Rotary’s global effort to improve literacy while also supporting the education programme at Westminster Academy, their local secondary school.The illustrated dictionaries will be for the students to keep and use to help with their homework.

Mac Purcell of Paddington Rotary, offers support and advice to the WA Interact Club says, “By presenting the Rotary International Presidential Citation 2009-10 to the WA Interactors, the Paddington Rotarians recognise the hard work of the WA Interactors, their voluntary service to others less fortunate than themselves, their broad sense of community and their growing awareness of being global citizens.”

Smita Bora, Principal at Westminster Academy, says “I am incredibly grateful to Paddington Rotary and Rotary International for their extreme generosity not only in supporting our Interact Club but also for donating illustrated dictionaries to our Year 7 students which will continue further the success of the Academy’s literacy strategy”.

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Further Information:

1. The Rotary Club of Paddington recognises that literacy is a fundamental right and it is part of Rotary’s global effort to improve literacy. It is also a Millennium Development Goal. Seehttp://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/pr_rotary_literacy_en.pdf
2. Further information about the Dictionary 4 Life see www.dictionary4life.com/
3. Interact is one of the most significant and fastest-growing programmes of Rotary; with more than 10,700 clubs in 109 countries and geographical areas, Interact has become a worldwide phenomenon. Almost 200,000 young people are involved in Interact.