Preparing for Maturity in a Family Home, Where You're Never Alone

Fabio 's desk is full of books, like the desks of anyone who is preparing, these days, for the final exam: he will have the oral on July 3. Even his bed is covered with notes and notebooks, in the room inside the family home that he shares with a companion, inside the Protectorate of San Giuseppe in Rome .

Synthia, on the other hand, will have her exam on July 1st and is counting down the days: she feels calm, the written exams went very well. She knows she can count – as she has done throughout her school career – on the help of educators, interns and volunteers, but also on the comfort of her classmates and the sharing of emotions and worries with Fabio, who lives in the same apartment. For Synthia, entering the family home coincided with the start of high school : in her case, the Verne Psychopedagogical Institute in Acilia. For her, « it's not bad to prepare for the exam in a family home: there are more people who follow you and support you ».

The atmosphere that you breathe, on this scorching Roman afternoon, is actually cheerful and almost relaxed, while Synthia and Fabio walk back and forth, looking for connections between one subject and another: the fans are on in the living room and in the rooms, while four kids chat around the table, about school but not only, with an intern who seems like one of them. In the small room of the educators - a bed, a desk, a wardrobe - there is Flavio Neciaev , who is the contact person for this house, one of the five family homes of the Protectorate.

Who are the kids who are preparing for the final exams? And what is the atmosphere like in the family home when it's exam time?

Fabio and Synthia are two kids who have been living here with us for a long time. Fabio has been in the foster home twice, once as a child, the other about two years ago. Synthia has a past in our home for mothers and children: when her mother finished her course, she decided to take advantage of article 25 and stay with us. They are both pretty good at school, I think they will get good grades, they have never missed a year, they are well liked by their classmates and teachers. The atmosphere is calm, there is great understanding on the part of their classmates: everyone realizes that Synthia and Fabio need silence and concentration and they try, as much as possible, to guarantee them.

How does the family home support these children in preparing for the exam?

First of all, by supporting both of them with volunteers and interns: in particular, Fabio had one of our historical volunteers, Barbara, alongside him, while Synthia was helped mostly by an intern, Elisa, who is studying Educational and Training Sciences. In addition to this, the family home made spaces available to them all year round, so that they could also study together with their classmates: for them it is very important to be able to open the doors of the place where they live to their classmates.

How was the legendary night before the exams?

They both spent it with their classmates, meeting outside of school and singing Antonello Venditti. Then they stayed to sleep out, Synthia staying with a classmate, Fabio with his support family: a family that helps and supports him on his path to independence. I think these kids really deserve applause, because they faced several difficulties during their school career, not least the distance: their schools are very far away, Synthia even has to travel all the way to Acilia, an hour's journey. They are two really smart kids, we are very proud of them.

Fabio and Synthia tell us how they are experiencing this “season” and how they experienced, in general, their school career. Synthia tells us that sometimes it wasn’t easy to go to school “with the anxiety of a court date. But then I went back to the family home and there was always someone to support me”. For this reason, when asked “what will you do when you grow up?”, she answers without hesitation: “A professional educator, because here I learned to love this job. The educators saved my life and the lives of many others ”.

Fabio, on the other hand, discovered that he has a particular talent for mathematics: he devoted himself a lot to studying, but he also managed to achieve other goals, particularly important to him, such as the lifeguard license and the driver's license . Until some time ago, for university he was uncertain between Engineering and Medicine, but now he has clarified his ideas: he wants to become a doctor.

In the meantime, while Synthia and Fabio return to their books and notes, in the building opposite they are celebrating the middle school graduation of four boys, who arrived and were welcomed here as unaccompanied foreign minors , all of whom are now adults: two Mohameds who both come from Egypt, Sulayman from Gambia, Ismail from Afghanistan. A special path has been dedicated to them, “Obiettivo terza media”, this is the name of the project, to guarantee the support that boys like them need to face and overcome this test, in a country whose language they still don’t know well.

A tutor is supported by the third-year middle school students throughout the year and especially in the last period, to prepare for the exams. With his constant presence and his closeness, the school tutor goes well beyond his teaching function: he becomes a stable point of reference, capable of strengthening self-confidence and promoting a more positive and inclusive school experience. "Thanks to this accompaniment project, the kids acquire the necessary confidence to complete their school career", explains Maria Rizzo , educator of the Sai-Msna project at the Protectorate. "And this year too, no one failed, in fact they all came out with excellent grades: 8, 9 and even 10. An important result, of which we are proud. But above all we are proud of these kids who are preparing to take their future into their own hands", concludes Maria.

Tags:
• Family
• Minors
• School
• third sector