Slide 1:
This Act of Collective worship is about a very unusual school called the Loreto Day School, Sealdah.
Slide 2:
Loreto Day School, Sealdah is in the city of Calcutta, India. This is not unusual as there are thousands upon thousands of schools in India.
This slide links to a map of India from www.askasia.org/images/teachers/display/48.jpg
You may like to include a suitable map at this point, copyrights permitting.
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Loreto Day School, Sealdah is a big school. It has 1500 students who are all girls aged from 4 to 16. This is rather unusual as most schools in Britain have both girls and boys, who have to change school at 11.
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At Loreto Day School, Sealdah, the students do Science experiments and enjoy Maths. This is not unusual as all school children in Britain love Science and Maths as well.
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The girls at Loreto Day School learn English and History as well. Again, there's nothing unusual about that.
Slide 6:
Here's an unusual question. What is on your school roof? Many schools in Britain have flat roofs on which can be usually found hundreds of footballs and tennis balls.
Slide 7:
On the roof of Loreto Day School, Sealdah, there is another school. Now that is rather unusual! Here are some of the girls who attend the rooftop school. Do you notice that three of them are not wearing shoes? These girls are known as the Rainbow Children as they come from different religions, backgrounds and places around India and Bangladesh.
Slide 8:
This is a photo of Priynka. She was one of the youngest of the Rainbow Children. She is a bit older now.
Slide 9:
Here's another unusual question for you. What happens in your school at night? In most British schools, everyone leaves and the school is dark.
Slide 10:
(Blank black slide - dark!)
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Loreto Day School Sealdah is very busy at night. The tables and chairs in the classrooms are pushed aside and all the Rainbow Children sit down together to have dinner.
Slide 12:
After dinner, all the Rainbow Children get a hug from the Headteacher before they go to sleep in the school. Usually, the Headteacher doesn't leave the school until one clock in the morning. This is not unusual as most British Headteachers work very long hours.
Slide 13:
Loreto Sealdah is a very unusual school because it is trying to feed, protect and educate some of Calcutta's 100,000 street children. These children come from very poor families, who can't afford to send them to school or even feed them. The boy on the left should be at school, but instead he is having to work as a servant. The boy on the right is gathering scraps of food in a plastic bag.
Slide 14:
These two children are looking for food in the gutter.
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This family has no house to live in and has been forced to sleep on the street.
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Another question: What do you do on your day off from school?
Slide 17:
On their day off, many of the girls from Loreto Day School Sealdah get on a bus and travel out into the countryside.
Slide 18:
In groups, they make their way to buildings like the one in the photograph. On every other day of the week, this building is a cattle shed, but on Thursdays it becomes a school.
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And one of the girls from Loreto Day School Sealdah becomes a teacher to children whose parents can't afford to send them to a school. Some of the Loreto girls who teach in the rural schools are as young as 9.
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Children in the rural schools are very excited to learn.
Slide 21:
I hope you agree that Loreto Day School Sealdah is a very unusual school that is making a difference in and around Calcutta. It is a school that is changing children's lives.
Slide 22:
Children like Ajimun, who at 7 years of age, used to have to work on the streets of Calcutta as a vegetable seller. Now, however, Ajimun, at ten, has the opportunity of going to school.
Slide 23:
Although many of the girls and teachers at Loreto Day School Sealdah are Hindus, the school is a Christian school. Jesus taught his followers that if they wanted to do something good for Him, they should do it for the poorest and most vulnerable people.
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