Our First Year As A Secondary School – Success And Progress With Some Challenges

The 2024 new school intake — Waiting for their new uniforms on day one

Bombolulu Secondary School – A very successful first year

It’s been a very successful first year operating as a lower secondary school. Here’s the quick highlights of what’s happened and what’s been achieved.

Or if you want, you can download and read the 2023 end of year report with lots of super images of what’s been happening. It’s the end of year report for supporters, donors and anyone who wants to know more about the school, part of our regular updates for donors that are put together for free by some of our unpaid volunteers.

The kids have been very keen

The children have asked if they could come to school on a Saturday as they wanted to achieve the best exam results that they could. They also come in by 7 a.m. and don’t leave until they are told to go home! They love to meet visitors and show them the school, and here’s Claire and Gregor with some of the children. They were on holiday when they bumped into our chair trustee Sally who was on a visit to the school with one of our very active donors, Keith. After hearing about the school they asked to visit, were made very welcome by the kids, and they now support the school.

Start of the school year — Back at the start of the year - they're not so shy now

The exam results have been very encouraging

It’s been fascinating to look at the government exam results, comparing the latest scores to when the children first arrived.

The English result is up by over 50%, maths by 29.8% (let’s get specific for maths), computers up by 29%, science up by 32%. It’s super to see the improvement in the core subjects and there’s an improvement in every subject.

Our children live in abject poverty – recent flooding in Mombasa has washed away some of the primitive housing

This has hit some of our children very hard and Ruth, who you’ll see on our home page, watched as her bed of rags floated away in the November floods and her home was a complete wreck, all that was left was a door. These are the worst floods seen in Mombasa in living memory.

Thanks to a generous donation Ruth’s house is to be rebuilt with the practical help of the Rotary Club of Mombasa North Coast as a community project. Our school staff in Kenya gave financial support donations too.

Bombolulu in flood in November 2023 — Bombolulu in flood - November 2023

We now have a safe house for girls

Sadly some of our most vulnerable girls were facing abuse at home. Given the poverty they come from, most of our parents do remarkable jobs bringing up and supporting their children, but the levels of abuse in Kenya, particularly for girls, can be quite high. So we’ve rented a small flat and equipped it with basic furniture. With live in support from our teachers we can now provide a safe, supportive environment for the girls that need it. Our thanks go to a very kind supporter who provided the specific funds for this vital project.

The safe house dining area — The safe house is basic but's it's home and it's safe

Environmental project – planting trees

The children and staff have been planting trees as part of an environment project that will also provide shade to the playground. One of our UK supporters, Keith Hichisson, helped out as he was on a visit to the school at the time, together with our chair of trustees, Sally Searle.

The boys watering trees after our tree planting project. — Plantering and watering trees can be fun

Collaboration with other local schools

Led by our head we’ve worked closely with other schools in the area, both public and private, on several initiatives. We’re relative pioneers in the lower secondary school arena, and there is so much to learn as well as much we can share. So we’ve had visits to see our science lab, by schools that have struggled to put this in place.

Thanks as always to Rotary

We continue to get support in many ways from this generous organisation. The grants this year have covered a whole range of items including period pants for the girls, books and uniforms, a laptop for the new teacher and several of the major items needed for the new school.

And heartfelt thanks to our continuing donors

Every £ we receive makes a huge difference to the children, the school and the local community. We get amazing support from our regular and one off donors. As we look forward to taking in the next year’s intake of children we face more pressure on our finances, so your continuing support is extremely welcome. Thank you, without your support most of these kids would have bleak futures ahead of them.

How to read and see much more about 2023

You can download and view our full report to donors to see more about how the children were able to thrive thanks to all our supporters.