Support Quality Schooling of 250 Kids in Nguluni

Dear friends, partners, advocates & champions of children’s education,

We have started the 2024 school year! For the first time since COVID-19, it is starting in the usual month of January. We are glad to still have you on the team and grateful for another successful year. Your support has enabled us to support staff and to keep advocating for quality education for children at Acres of Mercy Learning Centre. We take a look at snapshots of what we have been able to achieve together this year beginning in January.

This year’s saw both staff and management collaborate to provide professional development to teaching staff.

We had teachers trained in delivering Phonics Instruction so we could effectively implement a whole school intervention on improving learners’ literacy instruction.

We also had in-service training on assessment tools that were held once a week led by one of the staff members.

In addition to that, we a Director-led training to equip teachers on Competency-Based Curriculum implementation at the school level. This was an effort to make Acres of Mercy Learning Centre a Competency-Based Centre of Excellence. Through the training, teachers were equipped with the knowledge to deliver on the value of a growth mindset, especially as a prerequisite of change management and reform implementation.

During the third term the following was achieved in developing staff capacity to provide quality learning environments:-

-          We had a teachers’ training session in November through to December on the following topics;

1. Vision for Learning Leadership
2. Brain & Growth Mindset
3. The Kenya Basic Education Curriculum Framework
4. The Kenya Competency-Based Assessment Framework
5. Distributed Leadership
6. Strategies for Creating Effective Classroom Environments
7. Strategies for Self-Directed Learning
8. Communication & Trust Building

 These sessions are geared towards helping develop a new school culture where inquiry teaching is the norm as we move from an 8-4-4 system to a full CBC school system. The sessions were impactful. Here are comments from some teachers after the session:-

"Now I know what is required of me as a teacher when it comes to assessments."

"I now realize that I have been teaching CBC in the 8-4-4 way"

"The sessions on having crucial conversations were very helpful in equipping me with the skills to hold one another and even the learners accountable, in a safe environment."

 Going forward in 2024 we will need to increase mentorship opportunities to support teachers develop new ways of thinking and looking at teaching that supports Competency-Based Curriculum Delivery.

We will also continue to hire quality staff to help navigate the challenges of delivering teaching in a constantly changing environment.

Staff welfare and support will be key strategies to keep teachers motivated and encouraged.

We had an unusually high staff turnover as we require teachers to get certification in delivering competency-based curriculum, We are working on a strategy to minimize beginning-of-year disruptions and also align our staff to the new curriculum delivery standards.

Thank you once again for your enduring support! We look forward to a fruitful year as we work hand-in-hand to deliver on our commitment to nurture every learner's potential by supporting teacher growth, development & well-being!