Feed 300 poor children in urban Mombasa

Despite no-one from the UK being able to visit Kenya the school is running well. Thanks to the wonders of technology we continue to keep in close touch with our school and have been able to carry out staff training remotely. Our beautiful new school, completed at last in time for the Kenyan new school year in January 2021, is a source of great pride in the local community, All staff and children are together in one building now and we are no longer paying for rented premises. The teachers are working very hard to help the children catch up on time lost during the lengthy school closure because of Covid. So far our school remains Covid free.

One of the main government focuses for education in Kenya is the introduction of an appraisal system for teachers. Despite staff training being carried out only remotely our teachers are continuing to grow in confidencce and are keen to learn. Irene, our Headteacher, tells us that staff with particular skills have been passing on those skills to other staff members during training sessions. Charlie, a UK Trustee and middle school teacher, has carried out appraisal training and assisted Irene. Irene is already preparing the appraisal document ready for the introduction of the scheme in 2022. We are delighted that so much progress has been made despite the difficulties of the last two years. None of this could have been achieved without you and it is the kindness and generosity of donors that will enable us to continue educating our children and improve their life chances.

In an attempt to make up for time lost during school closure the Kenyan government has changed school holidays. Instead of the very long Summer and Christmas breaks there is a one week break every few weeks throughout the year.. Additionally, as our 2020 Nursery class missed most of their first year in school, we now have two Nursery classes, one for the 2020 group and one for the younger group who were ready to join us in 2021. This and the extra time the school is open has impacted on our already high cost for the feeding programme for this and the coming year. We want our children to thrive and so be able to take full advantage of the high quality education we provide. It is only because of our donors that we have been able to respond appropriateely, especially though recent difficult times. Thank you so much to Jude Bellingham for his continued support and thank you to all of you who have helped us not only to achieve our goals but to rise to the extra challenges we have faced. We couldn't have done it without you! Please continue to support us.