From a Remedial School to Mainstream:
Kallyn Merckel’s Story

by

Maxine Merckel

This is the story of my son — my hero:

Kallyn joined Orban School in 2004. As any mom, I had high expectations for my son starting at a new school. But things didn’t turn out quite the way I had hoped.

Kallyn’s teacher called me in to talk about Kallyn’s school work. She showed me his drawings compared with that of his classmates. I was worried. It looked more like scribbles with no meaning. My heart sank. And so the journey of trying to understand where the problem areas were with my child, had begun.

Endless psychometric tests with educational psychologists finally declared that my son needed remedial education. Immediately I blamed myself for not being a good enough mother, I questioned everything I did in his foundation years and I made a promise to myself that I will fix this.

I then enrolled Kallyn at [a remedial school] in 2009. My goal was for Kallyn to attend the school in the Foundation Phase only, but to move him into mainstream education as soon as he was ready to. Kallyn began to show improvement with the therapy that he was receiving at school. Meeting with his teachers, they were very complimentary of his performance, which set my mind at ease.

However, after two years it seemed like his performance was stagnating. The teachers provided the same feedback. This time I wasn’t worried. I became more and more frustrated and angry. The final straw was when they told me to put him on Ritalin. I felt that I needed to do more for him.

This was when I was searching the Internet on how I could improve his academic achievements. I found Edublox and applied in 2011, the year Kallyn was in Grade 4. I was so determined to boost his confidence and to prepare him for a mainstream education and to prove the teachers wrong.

As Kallyn started attending lessons at Edublox, this started reflecting in his school report, but more importantly, he grew more and more confident. Kallyn achieved the highest mark for Social Science in Grade 4 and came out Top 3 overall.

Thanks to Edublox, Kallyn moved from a remedial school to a mainstream school. When he achieved his excellent results in 2011 in Grade 4, of being in the Top 3 overall achievers, I knew that it was time for him to move into mainstream. Despite his teachers at the remedial school advising me otherwise, Kallyn continued to outperform his peers.

I approached Sacred Heart College in February 2012. I met with the school principal Mrs Picas. She was very welcoming but warned me that any child who joins Sacred Heart from a remedial background, will be required to repeat the same year. The school has a very high level of academics so she advised that we wouldn’t want Kallyn to be at a disadvantage. We agreed that we would take the risk and I begged the principal to take him in as soon as possible. Kallyn wrote the entrance examination and passed! A month later, the school told me that Kallyn had been accepted and that he could start immediately. WHAT FANTASTIC NEWS that was and Kallyn joined in May 2012.

During this time, Kallyn was still attending classes at Edublox. I thought this was necessary to maintain his performance, and maybe he wouldn’t have to repeat the year again. Kallyn continued to work hard and study hard for his assessments. His teacher at Sacred Heart was very pleased with his steady performance. The parents’ meeting took place in September 2012. My heart was racing because I knew I needed to find out whether Kallyn would be repeating Grade 5. His teacher gave me the great news that with his performance, he is more than capable of being promoted to Grade 6!

Kallyn’s Grade 5 Year-End Report: