By Lisa York-Cox CedarBridge Academy has struck a strategic blow in the education of Bermuda' youth.

The faculty have implemented an unprecedented new enrichment programme called the School-Wide Enrichment Programme.

Director of Instruction at CedarBridge, Mary Smith, said: "The whole point behind all of this is to include as many students and members of the staff and community as possible.

"The major philosophy is that all students in the school are to benefit from this programme and that's a major shift from the traditional types of schooling that has occurred in the past. This programme is set up in a way that all the students are given opportunities to become involved in enrichment activities.'' Programme coordinator Rita Simon said: "This programme is based on research both external and internal. It is based on a model that was introduced by Dr.

Joseph Renzuilli called the enrichment triad model and he had been working with enrichment programmes for years.'' As the word triad suggests, it is in three levels, she explained.

"We have what we call type-one activities which involves the entire student body,'' she said.

"We have guest speakers, we expose (students) them to exploratory activities so they later on can have a choice to see what they really want to do.'' The next level is the type-two activities, Ms Simon said. This involves skills training, like higher order thinking skills.

"This is where we have a pull-out programme,'' she said. "The criteria for the pull-out programme are standardised tests, student's grades, and teacher judgment.

"We use these multiple indicators to include as many students in the programme.

"We retrain these students in these thinking skills so they can later apply these skills to whatever projects, activities they choose.

"However it is not limited to just the enrichment pull-out group these skills are encouraged to be taught throughout the system.

"The type-three would be the final level where the students can work on individual projects or ideas for planning whatever they want. This will be an independent study.'' "As part of the phase-in we will eventually work toward these kinds of higher order thinking skills being implemented in our classrooms,'' said Ms Smith.

"A big part of this programme is helping the student understand that their responsibility for their learning and progress is shared among people, it's not only the teacher's responsibility or all the parents', but they have to share in that process. A big part of the programme is actually helping them acquire the disposition they need to be someone of success.'' "Our mission here at CedarBridge is to provide a stimulating environment that will provide our students with the knowledge, the motivation that will help them be productive,'' she said. "We have strategically planned a programme to meet the needs of the students with much enthusiasm and much support from the parents. There's been an orientation meeting for parents.'' Ms Simon added: "We must emphasise that it is aligned with the Ministry of Education's restructured vision of opportunity for all students. It is not separate and apart from what the Ministry is doing.

"We are working on a curriculum based on a variety of enrichment programmes.

"We have designed a programme based on the needs of the student.

"A big part of that is student choice, so that we are not dictating to them what they should take.

"We want to give them opportunities that they have not been afforded in the regular curriculum.

"They are given the opportunity to suggest what they are interested in and then we follow through with that using the higher thinking skills.

"What we need from an enrichment programme is for students to think at higher and deeper levels, to apply that learning to transfer it into the real world.'' Ms Smith added: "The students are proud of what they have achieved and the parents are pleased.

"We are getting a lot of support in this. We are very excited about this enrichment programme.'' "However,'' she said, "we need to get the word out to the community. We need mentors for the students, people who can volunteer their time helping launch this programme and make it a success.'' For further information on the programme call CedarBridge on 296-5665.