Balete Community Service by Woodrose Girls

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The other day, I went with a team who visited the PAREF Woodrose girls at Balete, Batangas participating in the Rural Services Program.  It is one among the several summer activities that students of  PAREF Woodrose engage themselves with.  This is a 5-days activity being coordinated by the Narra Nueva Study Center. This year, there are 13 girls who participated in this activity.

The girls are lodged at the Balete Family Farm School.  In here they are learning how to live a simple rural life.  The girls share bedroom, a relatively small one which is possibly a far cry from the comfortable one they have at home.  They also share a common bathroom.

 The Rural Services Program is one of the Community Services of PAREF Woodrose School.  Primarily, the aim is to give opportunities for the students to participate in community work wherein it enables them to tap their great potential in rendering time, energy and talent to others.

This year, the girls chose to serve at Balete Central School located in Balete, Batangas.  It is a 5th-class municipality located just beside Taal Lake, with a nice panoramic view of the famous Taal Volcano.  The people in here are mostly farmers and fishermen, deriving income through fish catching at the lake.  Basically, this is a rural and poor community.

"I learned here that I need to focus more on other's needs more than ourselves".  This is the response I get from one of the PAREF Woodrose girls participating in the program when I asked her what was the most important learning she had so far from this activity.

At the Balete Central School, the girls teach basic English; Arts and Crafts; and Values - Cathecism.  As I personally observe, despite some communication barrier because most of these girls are not fluent or can speak "Tagalog" very well they are trying their very best to be good teachers to the kids.

The girls, likewise were so gracious enough to give each and every participant pupil a school set like this one.  The envelope contains a notebook, scissors, crayons and pencils. 

Other than learning a lot from these girls, the pupils were also lucky enough receiving free snacks as well.  Since the kids are mostly from poor families, not everyone can afford to bring their own snacks in school.

Lessons are conducted in the morning.  In the afternoon, the girls do home visitations.  They take time to visit some of the families of these kids whom they are teaching.  Such, they further learn all about rural life and how other people live.  The objective is not for the girls to feel pity about the condition of the other people but rather for them to learn and knows the reality of the world outside their community and how they could be of help.

According to some of the girls, despite the difficulties they encountered in this activity, still they are very much willing to do it the second time around or even  repeatedly.

 The School:

Life Coaching through Mentoring at PAREF Woodrose School

PAREF WOODROSE  is an educational institution where academic excellence and personal information are achieved through close collaboration between the school and the home. Students of Woodrose, at a young age are already being taught not only academic excellence but focusing also on character formation.  School curriculum teaches them to become independent thinker,  an effective communicator, a responsible citizen, and a lifelong learner.

It was established by the Parents for Education Foundation (PAREF) way back in 1977,  a group of parents who wanted to be fully involved in providing an integral education for their children.  

Mentoring System: 

Believing that the effectiveness of child education depends largely on the unity of goals between the home and the school, Woodrose actively undertakes a close collaboration among parents, teachers and mentors.  Each student is assigned a mentor who becomes the parents' partner in guiding their daughter toward the pursuit of academic excellence and character. 

Parents are educated as well through the "New Parent Education Program of NPEP.  It helps parents to become better parents, thus effectively fostering their children's academic achievement.  The Program is consists of 5 modules: Case Study Method; Family Visioning; Deliberate Parenting;  Dignity of the Person; and Home-School Collaboration and Marital Relations.

I wish I have a daughter and I am personally excited how to get admission at Woodrose. 

The Admission Procedure

1. Submission of all required documents

• Accomplished Parents' Information Sheet
• NSO Certified Parents' Marriage Contract *
• NSO Certified Student's Birth Certificate *
• Original and photocopy of Student's Baptismal Certificate
• Report Card
• 2 x 2 pictures (2 copies)
• Recommendation form accomplished by the Guidance and Testing Office of the previous school
• Recommendation form accomplished by the Class Adviser and Registrar of the previous school

* For foreign documents, Original and Photocopy of the Marriage Contract of the Parents / Original and Photocopy of the Student’s Birth Certificate. Original Documents will be returned to the Parents.

2. Parental Attendance at the Orientation for Parents

3. Interviews and Testing

• Parents are interviewed by a PAREF representative
• Student takes an assessment test
• Student is interviewed by the Level Coordinator

4. It is following this procedure that a Letter of Notice is prepared and mailed to the parents

The application process will commence once all documents have been submitted.

At Woodrose, academic programs are focused on integrated education. such there is a balanced program of intellectual, moral, social, spiritual and physical development. Students are given opportunities for analytical and critical thinking.  Lastly, it is their ultimate objective to help each student achieve their fullest potential, to pursue the truth and be a responsible individual.

For more information on, you may visit Woodrose website . You may also contact the School Registrar, Mrs. Rose Dumlao at 850-6380 to 83 local 111.

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