Build A Community School for 200 Kids in Nguluni

Dear friends and partners,

Thank you so much for your continued support! We have been able to literally change the face of the school environment during the months beginning October through to December 2021.

We have not just ensured the old roofing was replaced, but have also painted all the classrooms to become more aesthetically appealing to our learners! We have also been able to ensure that the open well that had poor protection (covering) received a face lift.

The students continued to be supported through the provision of an all rounded education, tthrough active participation by teachers in providing both academic teaching as well as helping nurture the talents and skills of the learners at school.

Most children were also able to get meals especially the vulnerable learners in Pre-school to Grade 5 level as identified by their class teachers. This dedication has seen children growing in their knowledge  and practice of chess, soccer and responsibility through taking care of the environment, engaging in Young Farmers Clubs and participating in Performing Arts. Learners were able to showcase these skills during a School Cultural Day show organised by themselves and their teachers in the month of December.

Indeed, despite the challenges of the past year, the school has been able to grow and we, together, have continued to build the Acres of Mercy community school.

In the month of March 2022, the Class of 2021 will be transitioning to their respective next level classes. Class 8 will be sitting their national examinations from March 7th and transition to secondary school by May 2022. However, the school will be transitioning to the new CBC system fully in 2023 January and we are looking to set up a Junior Secondary School. The government has had a challenge meeting the demands of the change in curriculum and has called upon private schools to share the burden of education provision. For this reason, we plan to set up the school which will require additional capital fundraising beginning May- August 2022, so we can finish setting up at least 2 extra classes and recruit the right staff for the school, and source for all the learning resources by end of November 2022.

The task seems gargantuan but together we will be able to complete this in time and ensure we help our students transition without losing out during the transition period.

Thank you for your continued support and I sure do look forward to partnering with you more in this new direction in the coming months!

Dear friends and partners,

The days have run by so fast and now we are in the middle of another school term already! The school population now stands at 112 with a consistent attendance of about 95%. However, the school had days when daily attendance was as low as 78%. This was mainly due to what seemed like a measles outbreak and the school had to take the necessary precaution of letting some children stay away from school.

The school is still observing set COVID-19 protocols and working to keep children safe and learning. The school feeding program still continues with all children deserving of meals being served lunch, thanks to our partners’ support.

Students, especially boys in eighth grade have been growing through a mentorship program that seeks to help them develop skills and abilities that will help them succeed through primary school and beyond.

This year we have 17 students registered to sit for the Kenya National Examination Council national test at the end of March 2022. The students have already been taught through 62.8% of content. Students’ motivation to learn is fairly high given the strategy to incorporate and respect physical education time within the school routine. Students have been more willing to push themselves with the reward of ensuring they don’t miss physical education lessons.

In the next months we will continue student mentorship and also involve the parents more in their children’s school life. The pre-school students will also most likely get an extra playing section to enhance play including gross motor skills. We trust that this will build the students’ socializing skills, co-operative learning and playing as well as improve their physical, emotional and mental health.

Thank you for being a part of these transforming experiences for the students and making them happen!

Dear friends and partners,

It was in November 2020 that we last had a report to share. A lot has happened at the school, as we work on completing building physical structures and a learning environment that will help learners learn in an ever changing environment. With COVID-19 forcing us to begin finding new ways of working and living, it has taken us time to adjust to some of the necessary changes that we had to make.

The school reopened on January 4^th for 2^nd term and 3rd term respectively. For the first time in Kenya, our school calendar saw us having two years in one. This was confusing for teachers, management, children and every stakeholder had to be constantly reminded on the differences.

The school’s improvement goals remained as had been previously reported in the November 2020 report, namely; -

1. Pursue student mentorship to motivate students and support them during their time at school
2. Improve the level of Parental Involvement in their children’s learning
3. Improving students’ fluency in reading and comprehension
4. Improve teacher capacity to improve curriculum delivery and raise achievement of students and close achievement gaps for students not meeting expectations.

 Though interactions had been minimized in the school system as we followed COVID-19 management we still managed to still prepare students for their final examinations.

 We were also able to complete $4129 of buildings and sanitation, which also helped to expand the class capacity of class 8 students. The amount represents 40% of all spending in quarter three.

 Our library that supports literacy was also made more accessible, close to 2000 titles/ books were read by students, from the borrowed books records while 40 had been borrowed by staff members.

 The school was able to hold one parent’s meeting where 63% of parents participated. This is great progress from the 47% figure of previous attendance for the same period when we started implementing the school improvement plan. As at 25^th February 2021, parent to children ratio averaged 1:2.

 In March, Class 8 completed their National Examinations, with 21 students, 12 girls and 9 boys transitioning from Primary level to secondary level. The rest of May will see them being selected to either join secondary education or tertiary training schools.   

 Grade 4 also completed their school year and will be starting Grade 5 in July 2021. The school is in the process of acquiring resources for the new year and needs about $500 for textbooks for this cause as it’s a pioneer class in the new CBC (Competency Based Curriculum) system.

 A new term begins on Monday, 10^th May 2021. We look forward to partnering together as we try to achieve the goals aforementioned

Dear friend/partner,

When the government announced an impending return to school, we set to prepare our learning environment to comply with the basic health protocols given by the Ministry of Health.

We have ensured we have the following: -

1. Handheld infrared thermometers to screen students. We purchased one
2. Sufficient sanitation, hand washing points and water storage tanks
3. Sanitizers and soap
4. Spacing within classrooms and staffrooms
5. Nutrition and food safety
6. Manning the point of entry/ recording health data for screened individuals
7. Complete building of library and makerspace

The measures have been sufficient, allowing us to reopen school for 26 students, and 10 staff as we prepare for the rest who are expected to rejoin school in January 2021.

I take this opportunity to thank you our partners for enabling us meet the above-mentioned protocols thus ensuring our children are safe and protected, both within the school and outside of the school.

I look forward to our continued partnership to do more in terms of innovative interventions for to mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19 within schools, school systems and the home.

We celebrate you! 

Dear friends and partners,

I hope that you have all been safe!

This is our first post COVID-19 Pandemic report. So much of the world has changed since our last report in March and so has the nature of our work. Thank you all for having us in your hearts and for working through this period with us even though things changed so much for everyone.

They certainly shifted our work form the plans we had from the years start. As a reminder we wanted to accomplish the following goals, namely; -

1. Pursue student mentorship to motivate students and support them during their time at school
2. Improve the level of Parental Involvement in their children’s learning
3. Improving students’ fluency in reading and comprehension
4. Improve teacher capacity to improve curriculum delivery and raise achievement of students and close achievement gaps for students not meeting expectations.

When lockdown in Kenya was put in place on March 12^th 2020, we had just done reviewed our plans midway through the term and were ready to shift gears to implement better for the remaining half of term, but this wasn’t to be.

As I write this report, our government has officially given the school reopen date as January 3^rd, 2021. However, we repositioned ourselves to intervene in our immediate community starting with our children and their families and our staff and their families to provide food support and mitigate any negative impacts that was within our power and capability to do.

The following measures were taken by the Board: -

1. Continue raising financing to cover our teachers and staff pay
2. Give staff paid holiday, and find ways in which staff could work from home
3. Provide food support to staff and their families as well as to students and their families
4. Ensure communication is maintained between school and parents of students who were to take national examinations in October and provide learning plans to these students.

In the implementation of these decisions, the following has been achieved: -

1. Staff salaries have been paid as ‘paid leave’ at between 50%-75% of Gross Pay
2. Staff and students have been supplied with food from March 2020 (3 months of the pandemic). As of June 6^th, we were reaching over 128 people monthly with food and necessary care packages, thereby cushioning teaching and non-teaching staff from being adversely affected by the lockdown.
3. We started a vegetable garden farm to provide food during the lockdown period to a few staff with the hope that it will be transferred to the students when they return after lockdown is lifted.
4. Now we will focus on a Literacy Program that will hopefully help our students recover lost ground better when schools resume in January 2021,a project that will involve a lot of teacher training and ICT use.

Currently, we are working on getting our school program ready to take-off when schools are given the go ahead to reopen. With the strict requirements and  guidelines being given, we hope to raise sufficient financing to support better sanitation, hygiene and protective equipment provision as well as add extra learning space, isolation space and extra staff (school nurse and security guard) to help manage the school in a new post-COVID-19 school environment. The organization will also ensure better nutrition support for students so as not to put students at risk due to the effects of poor nutrition at home. For these reasons we are engaging in learning what is working in other parts of Africa and the world for countries that have reopened to see the role of non-profits working specially with vulnerable children through schools and other school related programs.

With the level of partner flexibility already experienced, we know we will overcome the challenges ahead to ensure that we will continue to nurture children and ensure a safe environment for them to grow and establish their foundation to be productive citizens in a new world. Thank you for this kind of support, for your dedication and sacrifice as you have held out your hearts and hands to Acres of Mercy and continue supporting the vision to reach out to our children, and the adults working with them. You too are heroes in the frontlines f our work, and we salute you and celebrate you!