We need to raise £54,000 by early 2025 to provide adequate security and privacy for the school and our students at the same time as we add additional facilities for the next stage of the school growth.
We’ve successfully raised the funds to build the next floor of the school to allow us to take in year 9 in junior secondary school in January 2025 (and keep our school licence). Building work commenced in November 2024. This will also give us additional flexibility on the ground floor to accommodate the many disabled parents who now attend our PTA meetings. Plus our new classrooms will have windows at the front and rear of the building, so we will have much better natural light. Our thanks go to all our kind donors and the volunteers who have worked hard help us raise funds.
Sadly, we now have major security and privacy issues. Local residential development has been allowed that means that the six floor residential apartments built adjacent to the school are almost within touching distance. It means the children are more than overlooked, and in places the new local residents will have easy access onto the school roof and can then walk down the staircases into the school. We objected against the plans, but amazingly to no avail.
Our school equipment and more importantly our students could be at serious risk.
The logical and most economical solution is to accelerate the next stage of school building development and incorporate robust security solutions as we build. It would not be practical or economical to include those solutions in our 2024 upgrade.
Our building plans for as soon as possible in 2025 will provide the classroom space and basic facilities (like additional toilets) for the 2026 intake as the school expands to become a senior secondary school. We will also add a staff room (we have more teachers) and a digital classroom (essential for the digital age). More importantly right now, we will be able to add security features, like enclosing the external staircases and adding high security fencing to the new roof.
Every inch of space in our building gets used – some for a range of purposes. On the roof we will have larger water tanks to provide gravity fed water. They will provide the extra water to prepare and cook additional food, and for the additional toilet facilities. We’ll also add solar panels, as it looks like the addition of power supplies to the ongoing local residential development means we can’t count on a reliable continuous electricity. Of course solar will also help keep down our costs.
The children grow vegetables on the roof as part of their agricultural studies and we mustn’t forget our chickens and their valuable output. The security issues we face means our chickens are at risk, and fresh eggs are likely to provide a huge temptation. The chickens are massively popular with the kids, and they’d be devastated if they were taken.
The addition of an extra grade in 2026 takes us to another major milestone in our growth as we provide the next step in secondary education. The Kenyan system splits the secondary school system into two, firstly three years in grades 7 to 9 in junior secondary, then 3 years in grades 10 to 12 in senior secondary. From January 2025 we will have all three grades of junior secondary school. In 2026 we plan to progress to include senior secondary grades.
The curriculum for junior secondary school provides a good grounding in a range of subjects that will help them in their future life. But our ambition to help these children carve out successful careers and reach their potential will not be fulfilled if they leave education at the end of grade 9. These students want to be able to support themselves, their families, and boost the local economy and thus help the wider community. Junior secondary alone would not prepare them to achieve their potential and the dreams they have of personal and professional success.
We aim to produce the doctors, nurses, engineers and professionals who will help change Kenya, although we will be more than satisfied if all of our students achieve a happy life, free from poverty, and are keen and able to contribute to the community. To have a good chance to reach any of those goals, our children need to finish their secondary education.
While we need to raise £54,000 in fairly quick time, any donations take us closer to help make the school secure and add the next year’s student intake. To donate just scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on the “MAKE A DONATION” button.
Super news about fundraising success and progress for school buildings But first, if you’d like an extensive look at what’s been happening at the school you can read the full update that goes out to all our supporters. And now …
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Help comes in many ways Kind donations and help for our charity come in so many forms. Tesco sometimes have excess stock, and they’ve found a very good home for some of their clothes. They were very generous and provided…
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There’s lots of good progress for the kids and the teachers There’s lots been happening, it’s all good, and we’ve given you a short overview here, or you can download the full update and read all the news in detail.…
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