Sam non va in vacanza: a project intended to involve 2000 boys and girls for an increasingly inclusive community.
Sam non va in vacanza provides an opportunity for children between 6 and 14 years old to recover from an unusual school year interrupted by the coronavirus.
The Sam non va in vacanza project is receiving the sizeable sum of 500,000 euros from Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione per la Scuola to support boys and girls facing the greatest difficulties, and contribute to achieving an increasingly inclusive and participatory community, working with families and schools in a complementary way and integrating with the summer activities planned by the Municipality of Turin and youth centres.
The recipients are girls and boys in years 4 and 5 of the 33 primary schools and teenagers in the 32 secondary schools in Turin involved in the Provaci ancora Sam (Try again Sam) initiative. The goal is to encourage learning and support the skills of the most vulnerable children by integrating different professions and in close connection with the relevant educational institutions. This intervention is also intended to build on the skills and support tools for distance learning made available during the “lockdown” period by the Riconnessioni (Reconnections) project.
“Schools have experienced a sea change in the last four months. There is no doubt that the school experience, but also the experience of education, culture, sport, relationships and sense of belonging to the city, will no longer be the same and the summer, if used well, will allow us to prepare for the return to school and regain confidence in the restart. For this reason – says Francesco Profumo, Chair of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo– Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo has decided to enhance the summer activities programme strongly established with the cooperation of the City of Turin, Ufficio Pio and Xkè? Laboratorio della Curiosità, Salesian and Diocesan Youth Centres – thinking about the learning that needs to caught up on, even by new means, including informal ones. With Sam non va in vacanza in particular, investments will be made to strengthen students’ skills within a broader educational programme for summer 2020, in which many different actors (local authorities, schools, institutions and charities, sports, cultural associations and foundations) will take part in an educational alliance for the summer, which aims to support the educating community in establishing a new model of education that is integrated, widespread and multidimensional.”
“Through the Provaci ancora Sam project – says Ludovico Albert, Chair of Fondazione per la Scuola of Compagnia di San Paolo, when the schools were closed during the lockdown, particularly thanks to the work done by educators, we were successful in reaching almost all the young involved one by one. In fact, the data gathered shows that only 3% of children were not reached. This a very comforting result that encourages us to plan for the Sam project also to be run during the summer, for the first time, so that even children in more difficult circumstances can start the new school year with confidence in September”.
Sam non va in vacanza is part of a broader initiative run in 2020. Summer together developed by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and its auxiliary bodies and partners (Fondazione per la Scuola, Ufficio Pio, Consorzio Xkè? ZeroTredici). The initiative considers three key aspects:
The need for learning and re-motivation through specific actions to prevent early school leaving, as occurs during the normal curriculum;
the need for specialisation, i.e. movement, contact with nature, play and recreation typical of the summer period;
the need for citizenship, i.e. the re-appropriation of the urban fabric and cultural offerings of the city with an experiential approach that stimulates creativity, dialogue and socialising, particularly thanks to the La bella estate initiative.
Sam non va in vacanza fields up to 100 educators belonging to 20 different local associations, in agreement with the schools where the Provaci ancora Sam project is run throughout the year, to create 260 teaching modules involving around 2000 young people for seven weeks– from the beginning of July to 7th August.
Clearly, the initiative complies with national and regional regulations for the safe management of activities and for the prevention of infection. The project aims to become an important community laboratory, a bridge between school and society, building on the model that combines the public sector – the City of Turin and the Regional School Office for Piedmont – and private sector, i.e. Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo with its auxiliary bodies and local organisations.
Sam non va in vacanza strongly reiterates that schools, the local area, childhood and adolescence are a strategic investment for our future and for the future of our country.
