Support Teachers to Educate 200 Children Monthly

Dear Friend and partner,

Yes...we are many steps closer to where our vision is driving us to. We have edged closer to more quality teaching..
The goal to build our students’ writing skills continues. In April we admitted Joe* into Class 6. Joe had been going to school at a public primary school in the local School District. Below is an excerpt of his current essay writing:
“One day I was walking in the road with my sister I saw a boy who was sleeping near the road. I saw a car caming. I told the driver to come and carry the boy. The driver refuse…”
Joe has a few problems compared to many boys his age. Teachers at Acres of Mercy are working to improve the children’s Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency as well as expanding their Vocabulary.
There are many other improvements in key areas of student learning such as independence in learning, reading, writing and comprehension, curiosity in learning, handwriting, improving fluency in certain areas of mathematics as is being testified by some teachers;
“I have been here for about 5 months now and it is amazing what is happening to the students when we started working on developing their curiosity to learn; many of our Science students are now able to read and write their own notes without being pushed”
Teacher S. has been giving extra time to the students, helping them during every free period he has. And the fruits of his and other teachers’ dedication are evident in the way sections of students are approaching their learning, teachers’ collaborating and parents beginning to take greater responsibility for their children’s learning and education.
This work has definitely been possible by the giving support you give to ensuring we have the teachers’ salaries provided for in time. It is this sort of support that has shifted our preoccupation with survival to spending more time in teacher professional development and coaching.
“It is now easier to set targets, with teachers and truly, honestly expect highly of them because our focus has moved from explaining salary delays, to discussing more about how we can all improve our teaching and students’ learning”

Thank you for making this possible.

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.