Support Teachers to Educate 200 Children Monthly

Dear friends and partners, 

It is the second day of April holidays for the children here at Acres of Mercy. The teachers have taken a well-deserved break before reporting back on 14th April for planning sessions for next term. We have made great strides in the last three months as staff so that we can truly say Together Each Achieves More. A volunteer working with us commented and said, "Things are much better now than last year, I think this is a good team. People are working more together towards the vision of the school." 

We have been experimenting with cross class and cross subject teaching and planning to help reduce the achievment gaps especially for English taught subjects. We have a team of four teachers working on giving instruction and assessments across five classes. This is set to continue throughout the whole year with an evaluation of progress in June 2017. 

Staff morale is high, there is more productivity compared to the same time one year ago. For the past three months disbursements have come in by the 28th of every month allowing teachers to get paid in a timely way. Staff are less worried about when they will be remunerated because there are pressing financial pressures. Instead they are more given to finding ways to deliver quality teaching to their students.

The effects are that children are more disciplined because they are more engaged. The teachers show better care towards their academic and personal well being.I could attribute this change in focus directly towards timely pay. Thank you all partners for making it happen. On behal; of all our staff here at Acres of Mercy, Thank You for a great first term 2017.  

Dear Friends, 

It has been a great year. Twelve months of learning. .

Of learning, and of working out ways to use the lessons learnt to improve our work. Of failing forward by looking backwards.

The main point of learning foor us came in the first quarter of the year.

We learnt from professional teachers and friends teaching in the U.S. about how to engage students and how to make social contracts with them.

This was timely since it came at a time when student disengagement was at an all tiime high and indiscipline was proportionately similar.

Many teachers had given the school's rating at 20% score on discipline.

Through hardwork, making tough calls on staff and accountability the rating shifted at the end of the year. Student engagement was once again looking up. Indiscipline changed and the story was that the school had been remarkably transformed without using corporal punishment as many parents and teachers had initially thought.

We consistently applied the methods taught us during our student engagement workshops and became accountable to each other as teachers on the results we were looking for. The parents gave the support we needed and as a team we all worked to raising the student engagement climate within our school.

Though not where we would like it to be, the student engagement levels in the school improved. At the end of the year, the teachers gave a rating of about 60% from the previous score of 20%.

Some of the lessons learnt are:-

1. Where there are assumptions, fight them to get to the truth- truth liberates people to take right action

2. We learnt to face the truth even when it was ugly- Facing truth inspires corrective action

3. We learnt that high trust leads to swift action and hence almost rapid results.

 We now are acting on these lessons getting information that will lead to truth, using truth and trusting each ther to deliver results that leads to changed lives.

Dear friend and partner,

The risks facing our children and students at Msingi Bora Learning Centre- Acres of Mercy are growing by the day.It seems more apparent that more and more teenage parents are unavailable for their children. Some of the caregivers are seemingly not taking care of the children left under their care. The results are worrying trends of children being abused. Some parents are not following up their children's education progress, discipline at home is next to zero and families are becoming more risky places for many children. These are the growing threats we are facing now. These are the threats we have been encountering in the last three months.Threats which teachers must be equipped to handle yet they are overwhelmed. Overwhelmed because the needs are vast, and the physical, and emotional resources to counter them limited. 

Yet there is good progress made in some areas. Class 8 attendance that was at 83% last term rose to 93%. This means truancy rates in this class improved greatly. The students are seeing the need to be in school and do well in their studies. Test scores improved by over  an average of 10% in most classes. Thanks to a few "outlier" teachers in the school. In his own words, Tom a student in class 6 said,"Teacher I have Improved in English because I have never achieved these kinds of marks in English before." You can sense the gratitude and encouragement to go on doing well.

The teacher in this class has been consistently employing Daily 5 strategies and the level of independent learning in this class has soared. We are now working on getting more staff to implement the strategies across the school. This level of sudent engagement will yield the kind of quality teaching and learning we all want to see passed on to the next generation. As we work together to impart skills to our team of teachers in dealing with the risks above and others that might crop up, I am positive that we will continue to see great results in all areas of our students' development- in academic and non-academic areas including the areas of teacher motivation, teacher skills and teacher commitment to excellence.

Thanks to your commitment, Thanks to your giving generously, consistently. I would like to kindly urge us to maintain the momentum and invite even more of other friends and partners to join in and support teachers and in efffect the students they teach, mentor and inspire.

And finally, teachers and friends came together to celebrate students' birthdays falling in August. The children had fun And so did the teachers. I guess all work and no fun can make teaching a boring calling. We would like it to be different here at Acres of Mercy. A few photos attached. You can help us celebrate September children and help teachers and student engage at a fun level. 

Thank you.

Dear Friends and Partners,

Thank you for making first term at Msingi Bora Learning Centre, Acres of Mercy a  success.

We are off to an engaging start to the second term beginning May.

Already we have had our first teacher training and planning session on student engagement.

Our Listen Learn and Act process showed that teachers were concerned about the levels oof discipline. Our Learning led us to students disengaged with their learning and teachers having a key role to play in their students engagement.

Our first training was n how do we keep students engaged and how do we manage our classrooms.

We are now monitoring and tracking results.

Over the past months we have been able to have better motivated teachers since a large portion f arrears have been  cleared. We are in the process of recruiting 3 new teachers as well to help us give the best quaiity to the students.

Teachers are being coached on a weekly basis to ensure they deliver on quality teaching for all students.

Dear friends and partners,

No...we are not talking soccer(football)....We are talking learning and how to get teachers performing at their very best. Forgive me for using Leicester City FC (Foxes) as a case study, but who would not be interested in this team that have challenged the top flight in England?

Nicknamed Foxes, this team has shown the resourcefulness, adaptabillity, and flexibility that characterises the animal they are named after. They have shown unmatched work rate, and have adjusted their play to charge for top honours.

In 2016 Teacher coaching, training and motivationt will be key to enabling children at Acres of Mercy improve comprehension levels and make marked progress across all English taught subjects. Using resources from the International Literacy Association, In-house trainings, competitive compensation and implementing Teaching /Learning Best Practice would turn the tide in our interventions to improve comprehension. 

For us to effectivelt work on improving comprehension that has lasting impact we must work together to support teachers who are key in delivering the results. We currently have a challenge expecting miracles from unmotivated, untrained and under-resourced staff.Teachers get average monthly pay of $ 87 per teacher. We are currently in arrears of upto $ 182 per teacher. Fee collections have gone down due to increased economic pressure faced by guardians, Ideas and strategies are invited to help us move out of this cyclical problem. 

With the best training, coaching and mentorship we cannot hope to give students the best if their teachers are unsettled because they cannot pay their bills nor travel to arrive in school on time. To build the foundation of education and appreciate the staff's role in sharing their knowledge, expertise, time and effort ACres of Mercy needs a consistent flow of financing in form of recurring giving, or novel plans that would support this aspect of educatio financing.

"Jimmy, we have to pay rent.my landlord will lock me out." says one teacher. This is the current reality. There is progress being made with the effort we are all putting in. The question is how do we double or even triple the impact we are having?

Ranieri has his team of performance analysts, assitant coaches, technology and Thai billions at Leicester. The children at Acres of Mercy have their teachers, no technology, not enough books, not enough teacher support and loads of good will. 

We can change this- be like foxes, resourceful, share our story, share your story, share ideas, share in your giving; And win big...

Join in. Call other to join...and change lives together.